Broken Apart
by Codyknight22
Summary: After graduating Beacon, the girls have gone their separate ways. Ruby and Yang are continuing the daring life of huntresses. Blake is a highly regarded speaker for Faunus. Weiss is learning how to be an heiress. But old grudges don't just vanish. What will they do if they have to form together again? M to be safe.
1. Prologue

Broken Apart Ch. 1: Prologue

**What's up, another story. Rating story M for now, otherwise no other real things to address. Yes, the prologue will be shorter then the rest of the story.**

Ruby wiped off the blade of her scythe, and looked sadly at the photo. It was only a month after they had gotten into an argument, and the former team leader still couldn't believe it.

All it was was a simple power dispute. Since graduating Beacon, Weiss had become more aggressive for the roll of team leader. Blake seemed to want to get away from team RWBY, while Yang and Ruby tried to keep them together. But Weiss had been called off to be the heiress for the Schnee Dust Company and Blake's stock for a Faunus ambassador had risen considerably.

Ruby and Yang had been powerless when they watched them leave. The two girls that they had spent four years relying on, gone. They left without a second thought. Ruby had fought so hard to earn Weiss' trust, and it seemed as though she hadn't earned it. Yang had instantly trusted Blake, and loved the way her partner complimented her style. But it seemed as though Blake wasn't on the same page as her.

It was a crushing blow for the sisters, but they had to keep together. All they had was each other, and a whole lot of Grimm. Ruby was actually wiping off her scythe from a Grimm attack, while Yang was showering.

The blonde brawler had finished up her shower, and she walked out towards Ruby. The sisters had been gifted a small, two bedroom apartment for them to use while being huntresses. Luckily, it had a shower that never seemed to run out of hot water.

"Hey sis," Yang greeted instantly. "What'cha doing?"

"Just cleaning off my scythe," Ruby said, sadness creeping into her tone of voice.

"Ruuuuby," Yang chided. Ruby sighed, and looked up at Yang.

"I miss them so much," Ruby said, sadness now filling her voice. Yang sighed, and wrapped her naked form around her sister.

"I miss them too," Yang replied. "But we have to deal with this. They had their chance to stay with us, and they didn't take it." Ruby sighed, and hugged her sister back. She wondered what they were doing at that very moment.

_Schnee Manor_

"Chin up, shoulders back, and walk," the instructor told her. Weiss walked down the carpet laid out in front of her, and looked as regal as possible. Ever since she had been called back to train more properly as an heiress, it was all boring formalities. How Weiss longed for a chance to be out fighting Grimm again. But, that was not what was picked for her.

Weiss didn't have the choices that her team thought she did. If she were to refuse the heiress training, then she would be disowned. It was only a few months, but those months might as well have been years. Weiss just wished that this wasn't her reality. Hell, at the least she wanted to suffer with her parents. But of course, they weren't there. Why weren't they there?

_Faunus Negotiations_

Blake was listening intently to the argument, but she already had her decision made up. No one could ever complete a good argument as to why they hated Faunus, because hate wasn't rational. She had heard the first words out of the mans mouth, and made up her mind. 'Faunus piece of shit,' wasn't exactly how you wanted to lead a story.

Since she had left her team, she had made almost no impact in the world of Faunus rights. It filled her with regret. She had abandoned her team for what? This? This minor squabble that was resolved within one sentence? Blake was frustrated, but she had to carry on with her job.

_Divide and conquer, and it seems they have done part of the job for us._

**End: Short beginning, and it will get longer. Not much to judge so far, and my apologies. But hey, it's a start. Questions, comments, follows, favorites, and feedback is appreciated.**


	2. Life After: Ruby and Yang

Broken Apart Ch. 2: Life Now: Ruby and Yang

**This will be the first of 4 Life Now chapters. But there are only 3 different groups of RWBY now, I'm sure someone here is asking. Oh but of course, you'll have to wait for the fourth one to see what it is =]. First off, I don't think that Yang and Ruby's hug was too weird. Also, do you guys realize that I only have like 700 words written right now? Cause this story has 20 followers and 10 favorites already. I guess my reputation proceeds me. Well, time to hopefully not fuck up... Finally, shoutout to TheWolfBane987 for making the wonderful cover for this story. He actually also has a story, so go check that out as well. Anyways, let us begin. UPDATE: I finished this A/N before my parents brought me in to be evaluated to see if I was suicidal. Spoiler alert, I'm not.**

Ruby ran one last rag over Crescent Rose, and folded up her blade. Since Weiss and Blake had left, Ruby was left with only Yang. Now that wasn't a bad thing, she did love her sister deeply. But, Yang took an awful long time to shower and get ready. Normally Ruby would have gone to Weiss or Blake and bothered them until Yang returned. But here she was, with only Yang, and no one else to bother. So she turned to care for perhaps the thing she loved the second most, her scythe.

Ever since Weiss and Blake had left, Ruby had an empty place in her heart. They spent so much time together, hell they lived together for four years, that it was impossible not to miss them. But Ruby's heart longed for the quiet confidence and quick wit of Blake, the cold scolding and brutal style of humor of Weiss. These were things that couldn't be replaced.

But, Ruby's dream was always to become a huntress and help people. Blake was off helping people, and Ruby was sure that somehow her job was helping people. Ruby just had to accept that all of them were living their dream. Except, maybe sometimes your dream can change.

"Rubes!" Yang yelled out from within the apartment. "You got a call." Ruby walked back in, and grabbed her scroll.

"This is team-," Ruby started. "Ahem, this is Ruby Rose, leader of the Ember Sisters. What's up?"

"Terribly sorry to bother you," a voice said from the other end. "But this is George Wash, I'm a hunter squad leader. I'm currently in charge of overlooking a town, and it seems that Grimm have begun to spike. Now, if I had my full squad with me I wouldn't have any issues. But, I'm down to three members at this current town. The rest of the squad is off at their own villages, and so I had to call in some help. I got a recommendation for the Red Reaper and Burning Brute. Would you two mind coming out and finding the Grimm?"

"Do we have a choice?" Ruby asked, taking great care to use a humorous tone.

"Why but of course not!" Came the emphatic reply.

"We'll be there ASAP, which means you have to wait on my sister to get ready. So we'll see you tomorrow." She could hear a hearty chuckle on the other end.

"See you when we do." The line went dead, and Ruby tucked away her scroll.

"YANG!" She yelled out. "HURRY UP! WE GOT A CALL!" Before she knew it, her sister exited the bathroom, missing only her gauntlets.

"Call?" She asked. "Can't be Beacon business, they only use us once. Who is it?"

"Some guy named George Wash," Ruby replied. "He says that he wants us to head out. Got a recommendation for the 'Red Reaper and Burning Brute.'" Yang's face broke out in a wide grin, and she just shook her head.

A year back, Yang had taken Ruby out for her first night of drinking {since her age had finally allowed her too}. Weiss and Blake were still there, and so they had gone with them. Needless to say, Ruby hadn't held it well. She had come up with stupid nicknames, including one for herself and her sister. Red Reaper and Burning Brute were things they had laughed at, and jokingly reported in with those names. Well, they had taken off. As soon as RWBY broke apart, they became the Ember Sisters {seeing as of how Yang had her fire and Ruby's symbol was a burning rose}. Those drunken nicknames had become apart of that gig.

"Come on," Ruby said, picking up her scythe and travel bag. Luckily neither sister had unpacked from their last trip. "Let's get going." Yang grabbed her bag and picked up her gauntlets on her way towards the door.

_Small Town Outside Vale: A While Later_

The travel airship landed, and both girls calmly walked outside. They noticed a man waiting on them, and the sisters took great care to watch over his details. He had white hair and blue eyes. He wore a very traditional military coat, and he wore an apparently straight sword at his waist.

"Aha," he said cheerfully. "You two must be the Ember Sisters. I'm the one who called you, George Wash."

"Pleased to meet you Wash," Ruby greeted. "I'm Ruby."

"And I'm Yang," Yang finished up. "You mentioned a Grimm problem?"

"Yes," Wash said sadly. "This town experienced a weird spike. I volunteered a small team, who turned out to be unavailable. So I took three others with me to investigate. Well let's just say that the spike that they had mentioned was a bit under done. So I had to call in for some help. Since I didn't want to take away too much manpower, I went for the most bang for my buck."

"Thanks for that," Yang boasted, puffing out her chest slightly. "I certainly have a lot of bang." Yang grinned at herself, but Wash just ignored her comment and kept going.

"So I'd just appreciated it if you two could guard here for a bit. The moment another large Grimm attack occurs, we'll fight them off and trail them. There has to be a nest somewhere, and let's just say a little flames might help burn them out?" Yang just shook her head, and sighed.

"Why is it always that?" Yang asked. "I'm always asked to punch stuff and set shit on fire."

"At least you do a really good job at punching stuff and setting stuff on fire," Ruby replied, choosing to refrain from cursing.

"Thanks sis," Yang replied, grabbing her sister in a head lock. Ruby looked ready to fight back, but a quick tap of a sword brought them at ease.

"Is this how trained professionals are meant to act?!" Wash said forcefully.

"Get used to it," Yang replied. "You're working with fou-." She instantly stopped her train of thought as she realized what she was about to say. Wash just sighed, and pointed over to a small home.

"Since we used up all of the space in the other home," he started. "You two get your own place. Showers are functional, and you'll have two separate rooms."

"Really?" Ruby asked. "You mean I won't have to share with Yang for once?"

"Shut up," Yang said.

"Aaaanyways," he said. "I suggest you both go an unpack. We'll have some times before-." A loud growl was heard from within the woods, and the three companions turned. They saw a pair of red eyes, which was instantly accompanied by several more red eyes. "Well fuck that statement," Wash said. "Drop the bags in the airship and we'll deal with this now." Ruby and Yang nodded, and threw their bags back. Ruby's scythe sprung to life in her hands while Yang readied her gauntlets.

Both girls ran out towards the woods, but Wash signaled for them to stop.

"This isn't Forever Fall or Emerald Forest," he said easily. "This is the Speckled Woods. Tell me, how much experience do you have here?"

"None," Ruby replied instantly.

"These Grimm have been living here for years. Even we don't understand this forest enough for me to trust just letting people out into those woods. Do you know why it was named the Speckled Woods?"

"You know," Yang said angrily. "You're asking a lot of questions right now. I really don't appreciate that."

"It was named that because hunters blood was speckled on the trees." Ruby and Yang finally eased back, and just kept their weapons at a standstill. "Yes, these Grimm have made a name for killing hunters in here." Ruby and Yang finally took a moment to appreciate the woods. The trees all had a black trunk with silver leaves. But there was something off about them, and the sisters couldn't figure it out.

Wash confidently stepped further into the clearing, and the other three hunters with him moved forward as well. Ruby and Yang trailed just behind him, and readied their weapons for combat. Before long, a single Beowolf stepped out into the clearing as well, it's pack moving behind it. Ruby went to take aim, but once again Wash stopped her.

"If we are to chase it, we must make sure the alpha gets away," he whispered. Ruby nodded, and shifted her scope. Wash gave her a thumbs up, and she took a shot at a Beowolf. The bullet went straight through it's chest, and it fell over dead instantly. Without a second though, all of the hunters {besides Ruby and Yang} ran forward at the Beowolves. It took the sisters a moment to start running, but Ruby was caught up in an instant with the others.

She fired off a round to send her over the heads of the hunters, and spiraled down into a Beowolf. The blade of her scythe cut it clean in half, and she just smiled.

"Gotch'ya," Ruby whispered with some sadness. Those were the words that she had uttered during her first fight with Weiss. Temporarily brought out of the moment, Ruby shook the thoughts from her mind and cleaved another Beowolf in half.

Yang had chosen a far less angelic movement. She had simply barreled her way through the front of the line of Grimm. She quickly fired off two rounds, and burned a hole in two Grimm's chest. She swung around her elbow, and cracked the skull of another Beowolf. Yang then picked a fourth up, and threw it into two more Grimm. Yang's biggest thing that she was known for was her rage, which often lead to flames. Well, every time she fought Grimm, she used her rage about Blake leaving on the Grimm.

Wash, on the other hand, was the only one without thoughts. He was just expertly carving his sword into the chests of the Beowolves. He looked over and watched as most of the Beowolves had begun to retreat, but he identified that the alpha was running. With a quick whistle, he managed to grab the attention of the Red Reaper.

"Trail the alpha!" He yelled out. Ruby nodded, and took off in a sprint. She fired off a round to get her into the trees, and went to work jumping from tree to tree. Yang just rejoined Wash, and waited for him to start running after Ruby. They had a tracking beacon in her scroll, which Ruby did have on her. So whenever Wash took off, they would be able to find her.

"Let's move!" He yelled out. Yang nodded, and got ready to sprint. Nothing like the chase.

Ruby wasn't too far off of them, as the alpha seemed to be attempting to move in different patterns. Ruby was able to identify which wolf help that prestigious title pretty quickly. After all, it was bigger then all the other Beowolves. It finally came to a stop, and gently walked forward into a cave. Ruby had to guess that this rather large cave was the den.

Instantly stopping, she laid back in the tree and watched for her sister, Wash, and his group.

She wasn't waiting long as they were able to just take a direct rout. Ruby jumped down from the trees, and landed in front of her sister, Wash, and the other three.

"In there," Ruby said instantly, pointing just behind her.

"Alright then Yang," Wash said calmly. "Let's begin. Light 'em up." Yang nodded, and cracked her fists. She cocked back her fists, and launched two rounds at either side of the cave. She then sprinted at the front, and triggered her semblance. Fire started pouring off her body, and she tossed it around at as many points in the cave as possible.

Smoke started to flow towards the inside of the cave, and many things were actually catching on fire within the cave. After some howling, some of the Beowolves started to come running out of the cave. When they did, Ruby, Wash, and the other three hunters started taking potshots at the Beowolves.

Within the hour, most of the Beowolves had been killed. Yang had rejoined them after a while, and had assisted in taking them out. As soon as the last Beowolf dropped, and nothing more came out, Wash turned to face them.

"Well," he said happily. "I guess that you're time here is up a little bit sooner. I guess that you'll have the choice of leaving, sorry it was so soon."

"Life of a huntress," Yang said.

"Sometimes you can't control when you leave," Ruby continued. "Or who leaves around you." Yang instantly pulled her sister a little closer, and Wash just smiled sadly.

"Yes," he started. "I'm sure it was tough. But, now you're living your dreams right?"

"Yeah," Ruby agreed instantly. "But sometimes dreams can change."

**End: Ember Sisters, Red Reaper, and Burning Brute are just names that I bounced around. Questions, comments, follows, favorites, and feedback is appreciated.**


	3. Life After: Weiss

Broken Apart Ch. 3: Life After: Weiss

**And I'm back already. Mentally, just have to write. So, I'm not going to ever finish my other fanfictions before writing a new one cause I have an idea and I have to go. I'm not concerned about being overworked, but I'm just gonna write what I wanna write. As to the question of shipping, cannot answer that one. Can't even tell you whether or not romance in general will be involved. So just read and find out. Now, as I have previously stated, this will be part 3 of setup and part 2 of Life After. Now this might wind up a little bit shorter, but don't hate me for it cause this is a setup thing. Finally, thank you to everyone for getting me over 30 followers already! I am glad to see that there are people excited for this concept as well. Now let us resume the potentially slightly boring setup.**

Weiss' eyes opened up, and she sat up in her bed. It was another long day laid out in front of her, thus meaning that nothing seemed too exciting. She still had about an hour before breakfast, so she turned on the large TV that resided in her room. Instantly, she was greeted by a news feed.

"And in other news," the reporter, a woman by the name of Lisa Lavender, began. "The Beowolf problem at the borders of Speckled Woods was cleared up yesterday. Hunter commander, George Wash lead a group to take them down, with some help from the Ember Sisters, Ruby Rose and Yang Xiao Long. These girls were once famed members of team RWBY. They also go by the names, the Red Reaper and Burning Brute. Here is some footage of the interviews that we took with them." The camera cut to a man with white hair, whom Weiss could only guess was George Wash.

"Well the four of us were struggling with Beowolves," he began. "So we called in the aid of the Ember Sisters since we decided they'd be the easiest way to get improved firepower. So we called them in, and luckily they weren't busy." The camera cut to Ruby and Yang, who were standing together.

"Come in," Yang started. "Smash some stuff. Kill some other stuff. Pretty easy for me and Rubes."

"We've gotten well adjusted to these calls," Ruby said. "Leave one bag packed since we don't have a reason to settle down." Ruby said this cheerfully, but there was a hint of sadness in her eyes as well as Yang's eyes.

"Do you miss your teammates?" The reporter asked.

"Yeah," Ruby said sadly. "But we have a job to do, one that we swore to uphold. I guess that they had their duties elsewhere." Weiss couldn't take it anymore, and she just turned off the TV. She instantly plunged her face into her pillow, and let out a scream of frustration. _How dare she call us out on TV, _Weiss thought angrily. _She doesn't have the right to say such a thing!_

After a few moments, she calmed down slightly, and digested more of what Ruby had said. It was clear that both her and Yang missed Weiss and Blake. While Weiss thought that her current life was very drab and boring, she had to remember that what Ruby had said was true, and that she wasn't calling them out. Weiss did have a commitment and a duty to uphold. No matter how terrible it was.

A soft knock was heard at her door a moment later.

"Ms. Schnee," one of the servants said. "It's time for breakfast. Then you have some etiquette lessons." Weiss groaned, but then grabbed her clothing. She started to strip down and throw on her new clothing, but the whole time she grumbled to herself.

"My apologies Ms. Schnee," the servant called out again. "It appears that you actually have some fencing to do to assist in entertainment for a deal."

"Wait," Weiss called out. "My father is here?"

"No," the servant replied. "It's actually your mother, and she'll be arriving in time for the deal and the deal only. Then she will be departing on other business immediately after this deal goes down."

"Of course," Weiss sighed. "Of course. I wouldn't expect anything more."

_Post-Breakfast: Main Negotiation Hall_

Weiss had just wrapped up another breakfast by herself, and immediately gone off to the negotiation hall. She figured that she may be able to squeeze in a few more minutes with her mother. And not just, 'Weiss do this,' minutes. Actual, quality, family minutes. But once she opened up the doors, she noticed that her mother was already in discussion.

"Hello Weiss," she said, only distracting briefly from the flow of her conversation. "I'm glad that you could join us."

"Mother," Weiss acknowledged. "And I hope you do not mind me asking, but who am I entertaining?" Weiss' mother identified her daughter's choice of words as an attack, but chose to ignore them.

"Weiss," she began. "This is Mr. Reginald, and this is how you shall address him. The other one is Nathaniel Reginald, and I would prefer if you'd refer to him as Nathaniel to avoid any confusion. Now, would you take the stage my daughter?"

"It would be my pleasure," Weiss replied. Despite how much she hated everything about her life at that moment, her etiquette classes hammered manners into her.

"Excellent," one of them men said. "Nathaniel, if you would please ready your rapier?" The second man nodded, and pulled out his sword. Weiss walked over to a nearby stage, and jumped onto it. Nathaniel followed shortly, and Weiss easily leveled her sword. She could hear her mother and Mr. Reginald speaking, but she didn't care. This was the best part of her life, fencing.

While at Beacon, Weiss was forced to increase her combat skills. After leaving Beacon and RWBY, Weiss realized how much she had actually enjoyed the combat. Better yet, her almost exclusive one-on-one combat that she had trained in prior to Beacon had vastly improved. It was difficult to defeat her alone in general, but when it was sword on sword it might as well have been impossible.

The first horn sounded for them to begin, and Nathaniel stepped forward. Without much thought, Weiss easily flicked around her wrist and disarmed him. The sword went skidding off the stage, and Weiss just gestured for him to pick it up. Nathaniel did, and instantly attempted to attack again. Weiss easily pushed his strike to the side, and brought the tip of Myrtenaster up to his throat. Nathaniel back off, but then instantly tried an overhead strike. Weiss easily blocked the strike, and then disarmed him once again.

Nathaniel and Weiss continued for a while longer, but there was a clear difference. Nathaniel had been trained with a sword, while Weiss was taught to survive with it. Luckily for him, Mrs. Schnee and Mr. Reginald finalized their deal just after his fifteenth defeat.

"Weiss, Nathaniel, that's enough," Mrs. Schnee said. "I can see that my daughter has once again bested an heir with a sword. Well done Weiss. Mr. Reginald, I look forward to doing business with you in the future."

"As I look forward to doing business with you," he replied. Nathaniel reached over to Weiss, and held out his hand. Weiss took it, and both of them engaged a handshake.

"It was nice meeting you," Nathaniel said. "Even though you kind of kicked the crap out of me." Weiss smiled at him.

"It was nice meeting you as well," she continued. As soon as she was done, she turned her attention over to Mr. Reginald. "As it was nice meeting you."

"It was nice watching you best my son and meeting you," Mr. Reginald countered. "I look forward to doing business with your company in the future. Come along now Nathaniel." Nathaniel walked down from the stage, and trailed just behind his father. As soon as both of them had left the building, Mrs. Schnee picked up her bags.

"Wait," Weiss said, stepping forward. "Are you already leaving?"

"Of course," Mrs. Schnee replied. "I must leave to attend to other business. Goodbye Weiss."

"Can't you stay for at least a little bit?" Weiss asked. Her mother shook her head, and started to walk out. Weiss didn't quite realize her mother was going until she was almost at the front door, and then she managed to catch up.

"Bye Mom," Weiss yelled out. "I love you."

"Goodbye Weiss," her mother replied. Without another word, she slammed the door shut and exited. Weiss just watched this happen, and choked back a sob. _Not even an, 'I love you,' _Weiss thought. Instantly, she buckled to her knees and started to cry. The one line from her own song kept running through her mind.

_Tell me who's the loneliest, of all?_

**End: So once again, a bit shorter but they'll be like this until after Life After. Questions, comments, follows, favorites, and feedback is appreciated. **


	4. Life After: Blake

Broken Apart Ch. 4: Life After: Blake

**3/4 for the Life After piece, and then we will be done with boring setup I swear. But we still have Blake, and then the mystery one as well {#2Spooky}. So thank you to everyone for getting me to 20 favorites and 40 followers. This story is keeping up a pretty remarkable pace given that I haven't even finished the prologue pieces. Well, I promise, this is going to get a lot more intense after Life After. But setup is a necessary part of this story, so let us begin again.**

Blake tossed down money towards the bar, and went to leave. Today had been another day of racial slurs against Faunus, senseless violence, and stupid crimes. All of them easily dealt with with someone of Blake's experience. All of them had paid well, sure. But Blake wasn't in it for the money. She had left her team, whom she cared for very much, to make a difference. So far the only difference that she had made was setting the new record at the bar for most shots downed {Blake held her alcohol amazingly well}.

Along the way, she heard some drunken ranting and the sounds of a fight about to break out. Sighing as she recognized who that voice belonged too, Blake shifted her course from the exit and found exactly where it was starting from. There was a large bull Faunus arguing with a monkey Faunus, and Blake knew exactly who they both were. The bull was a man by the name of Tauran Brownfur, the one that they called when they wanted a lot of muscle. The second one was the ever too familiar Sun Wukong, a friend from the past with a nose for trouble. He was also, unfortunately, Blake's new partner.

"Hey!" Blake yelled out, stepping between the two. "Knock it off. What happened?"

"Monkey boy though it'd be a good idea to take a swipe at my drinks," Tauran said angrily. Tauran was easily the tallest and most muscular person their. He stood at six foot five inches, with rippling muscles making up all of his 300 pounds. He had two horns on top of his head, brown hair, and emerald eyes. The rest of his body was also covered in a lot of brown hair, but no one was sure if that was from his Faunus nature or just how he would be. He wore a brown coat that constantly remained open, and brown jeans. His weapons were two metal gloves that always remained on his fists that worked as shotguns, just like Yang's.

"And I would have succeeded," Sun said, his speech horribly slurred. "If I wasn't already drunk." He hiccuped, and grinned wildly.

"Look," Blake said, attempting to avoid Tauran killing Sun. "Clearly this is a drunken misunderstanding. Sun will have no memory of this, he didn't get any of your drinks, and so we will be on our way."

"Belladonna, right?" Tauran asked. Blake nodded, and his eyes widened in understanding. "So you're Wukong's partner?" Another nod. "It's a good thing I have a lot of respect for you Belladonna. Otherwise, Wukong'd be eating out of a straw for the next four weeks."

"I don't doubt it," Blake replied. "Come on Sun."

"One more drink," Sun said, reaching out towards his table.

"No," Blake said, pulling him away. "Our caretaker is going to be pissed enough as it is." Sun suddenly slumped down, all of the feeling leaving his body, and Blake sighed. She started to drag him along, but felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned, and saw Tauran waiting there.

"If you get Wukong to pay for my drinks I'll carry him," Tauran said. "Once again, you really do get a lot of advantages for your reputation."

"Tell me something I don't know," Blake grumbled. She sought out Sun's wallet, and tossed down the cash for Tauran's drinks, and the bull instantly picked him up.

"Don't expect me to be gentle," he said instantly.

"I couldn't care less," Blake replied, leading the way towards their camp. "A little brain damage might actually fix him." Tauran grinned, and stepped out of the bar.

The Faunus Rights Camp was actually a large complex of tents that housed every Faunus who resided their. Each tent had two people, and those were partners. There were four tents in a region, and each region was assigned a caretaker. Blake was apart of the fourth region, and her partner was Sun. Tauran was also apart of the fourth region, but his partner was a lynx Faunus named Lyria Spots. But they all knew who their care taker was.

They finally arrived at their tent, and Tauran just brushed aside the covers. He walked over to Sun's bed, and just dumped him straight down.

"Want me to get V?" Tauran asked.

"You refer to everyone formally except her," Blake said.

"Hey, while you have my respect, V has my care. Good caretakers get a letter, good workers get last name. Much as I hate Wukong, he's earned respect. And V, well she's more then earned my gratitude."

"Yes, get V," Blake said, waving him off.

"20 lien more from Wukong," Tauran said.

"Deal." Blake tossed over the money, and Tauran left the tent and went towards the middle one. Blake looked over at Sun, and just shook her head. Sun and her had been paired together due to past experience. But Blake didn't enjoy herself at all. Sun was reckless, headstrong, foolish, and overall just not too bright. Similar to Yang, but she could-.

Blake stopped herself, and sighed deeply. There was that name again. Her former partner, Yang. _Dammit, _she thought. _Told myself, no more team thinking. _Before she could scold herself a little bit more, the front of the tent opened up. Tauran walked back in, and all that was visible was the tip of some rabbit ears.

"Drunk again?" A voice came out, an accent thick in her voice.

"Yeah Velvet," Blake said dejectedly. That's right, Velvet Scarlatina was the caretaker. She had left her team because they all had other aspirations, and the quiet rabbit Faunus had a knack with any kind of medicine. So when she had joined at the same time as Blake, Sun, and Tauran, she had been assigned as their caretaker. Since their unit {like most others} rarely suffered any kind of injuries, she spent most of her time rehabbing a drunken Sun. Luckily, Velvet had a quick remedy for being drunk.

She plucked off a vial from her belt, and walked over to Sun. She held open his mouth, and crammed it in. She then proceeded to hold his nose shut, and wait until he swallowed.

"Remind me why I'm friends with him?" Velvet asked, releasing her grip on him.

"I wouldn't be able to tell you," Blake said, staring back at her new partner.

"He still beats my old team. Nice people, but not very conscious of Faunus rights. What about you Blake?" Blake's expression changed from one of annoyance to one of sadness, and Velvet realized her error. "Oh no Blake, I'm sorry. I just thought that you may-."

"It's fine, Velvet," Blake said, raising up her hand. "I thought I would like being away from my team and making a difference, but it really doesn't seem like we're making much of one." Velvet and Tauran just traded looks, knowing that Blake was right. But there was nothing that they could do about it. All that they could do was keep up what they were doing, and hope that it eventually makes an impact.

"Well then," Tauran said. "I'm pretty sure Lyria is wondering where I am right now. I'll bid you a goodnight Belladonna, V, and sweet dreams to Wukong."

"See you Tauran," Blake said.

"And I'm bidding my ado as well," Velvet continued. "See you in the morning when I'm sure Sun'll complain about the taste in his mouth."

"Night Velvet," Blake said. She watched as her two friends left her tent, and just lay down in her tent. She picked up one of the pictures that she had, and just stared at it. Weiss had her posture high, but her face was annoyed as Ruby was trying to pull her in for a hug. Blake's eyes were in the process of rolling while Yang tried to grab her in a headlock, and the sisters were both holding each others free hands. This was their team photo for senior year, and Blake just smiled at the memory.

"I hope that I can see you guys soon," Blake whispered. "Because I don't know if I can take much more of Sun." She set it aside, and leaned back in her bed. Her eyes closed, and sleep came easily thanks to the aid of some alcohol.

**End: Questions, comments, follows, favorites, and feedback is appreciated. Once again, this length will continue until I get past Life After.**


	5. Life After: Torchwick

Broken Apart Ch. 5: Life After: Torchwick

**BOOM! Big surprise, it's on Torchwick. Final Life After, and I did it ahead of pace because I want to get to ze breaking {I mean, what breaking? Everything's fine here}. So uh, not a whole lot to address. But here we go, the final chapter of Life After.**

Torchwick flipped around his cane, and just whistled to himself. Today was a very good day for him. He hadn't had to resort to anything criminal yet, nor did he have to try and do anything else rash.

It had been a month since team RWBY had broken apart, and about a year since they had become a much smaller factor. Yet they had made his life hell for over six years. Those types of things weren't so easily forgiven in his books.

He even had all of them still laid out. Four images, each labeled with there names and the stupid code names that they went by.

_Ruby Rose: Red Reaper_

_Weiss Schnee: Frozen Fencer_

_Blake Belladonna: Attentive Assassin_

_Yang Xiao Long: Burning Brute_

Yes, cute nicknames that would get you plenty far in a sorority. But in his world, they wouldn't get you anywhere. So why did these girls, whom he knew while they were teens, manage to run everything.

About two years ago, they had graduated Beacon. An accomplishment for any, but Torchwick wasn't happy. His four year operation with Cinder had been put under a lot of fire from these four. So all that this meant to him was that they would be free to harass them whenever they wanted too. That was something he couldn't stand to see.

But for a month, their operations continued on without much issue. Then they had found and killed Cinder's male associate, Markus. About a year later, they had discovered and killed Cinder's female associate, Cleo. That left Torchwick and Cinder to themselves, but he wasn't too concerned. That was true, until they had discovered and, this time, placed Cinder under arrest. That left Torchwick alone, and he had made the decision to go into hiding.

For one year, he had been rebuilding his assets. It was a slow, and grueling process. None of it was easy, but all of it necessary for one simple reason. Torchwick was an excellent businessman. He was able to work his way through the black market, and he could more then hold his own in a fight if it came to be necessary. But he wasn't a man that took pride in an ability to plan things long term. So he needed another mind for this, and that mind was Cinder's mind.

He had mapped out a route to exactly where she was being held prisoner, and it was going to be a simple affair to break her out. He employed the help of some mercenaries that were good enough to hold their own, and trusted that his own cane would be more then enough for him to deal with any other unpleasant obstacles.

"Sir," someone called out. He turned around, and looked back at one of the mercenaries that he had hired standing in the doorway. "All of the men are aware of the plan, and all of us are ready to go. Do we move out now?"

"But of course," he said, lighting a cigar for himself. "It is best to save us some time, and begin our mission soon." Torchwick pushed aside the images of the former team RWBY, and walked towards the airship. This was going to be easy.

_Vale High Security Prison_

Cinder sat within her cell, and absently flicked flames against the Dust that sealed her prison. There were brick walls on any side of her, but those walls were reinforced with Dust energy. Nothing she could do would break the bonds unless they were weakened. So the guards let her waste her semblance and aura on the bars. She only had a few days until execution. Though even with her limited access to the news, she never once saw Torchwick's name come up.

She couldn't help but wonder what the idiot was doing. He was the last upper member of her council, thus meaning that she would hope that he could carry out her hopes. But it seemed as though she had overestimated his bravery, and ability to lead.

In a few moments, she heard a loud explosion from outside. The guard that rested outside of her cell picked up his rifle, and aimed it at the door. He waited patiently, unsure of whether or not he would actually need to pull the trigger. But the guards that resided within a high security prison were always ready to fight.

Cinder's ears picked up to gunfire and the sounds of death, and she allotted herself a smile. It sounded as though someone was trying to let some people out. And that meant that she might be freed. But something else caught her interest. It was a similar hiss to something she had heard before. But she couldn't quite figure it out.

After another moment, the door was blown off it's hinges and it slammed into the security guard. He fell over and grabbed his stomach in pain. He looked up briefly, but just watched as someone walked over to him and slammed something into his jaw. After another moment, something sharp entered his side, and he felt the life leave his body.

Cinder turned her gaze away from the dead security guard, and smiled at the sight in front of her.

"Well, well, well," Cinder said. "I must say, this comes as a present surprise for me. I certainly didn't expect to see you, Roman." Torchwick tipped his cap at her, and smiled back.

"Oh you see, I couldn't live without you," Torchwick continued on. "And look, I even bought some new friends." After another moment, he swung around his cane into the control panel that held her cell. Cinder stepped out of it, and smelled the air.

"Such freedom," she said happily.

"Tell me," Torchwick continued. "Those in the cells around you, would they be good for hiring?"

"Now why is that?" Cinder asked, rolling her wrist boredly.

"Because we may need even more help. I say we continue out aspirations, but maybe add something more. I was thinking a bit of revenge against those that killed Markus and Cleo, and those that put you in here. What do you say?" Cinder lit a ball of flames in her hand, and then used it to frame her face.

"I say free all of them," she said wickedly. "It's time we do what I should have done six years ago."

**End: And thus we say goodbye to prequeling. But I won't miss it since I am very excited for the next few chapters. Questions, comments, follows, favorites, and feedback is appreciated. **


	6. Reunion

Broken Apart Ch. 6: Reunion

**And we're onto the main part of the story. I will be disappointed in myself if I can't push up the length to a more normal area for me {2k+ roughly}. But first up, thank you to everyone who has gotten me to 30 favorites. I mean, I only just finished up the short intros. Anyways, let us begin again.**

The airship touched down at the landing field, and the two sisters exited out of it. Ruby briefly said her thanks to the pilot, but then walked after Yang. The blonde only wanted to get home so that she could take a shower, and Ruby recognized that fact. So, being the gracious sister, Ruby was going to steal a trip to the shower first. Before either of them even got a chance to go home, Ruby heard her scroll go off. She raised it up, and answered it without even checking who was calling.

"Hello?" Ruby asked.

"Hello Ruby," someone replied. Ruby instantly recognized the voice, and a tiny smile broke out on her lips.

"Professor Ozpin," Ruby said, raising up her finger to quiet Yang. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"No need to be formal with me, Ruby. I'm just calling in to see how you and Yang are doing, and to see if you'd be able to get out to Beacon by tomorrow."

"Why do you ask?" Ruby asked, curiosity instantly swarming her.

"Tomorrow is going to be the reunion for your class," Ozpin continued. "We have one every year until the fifth, and then it's spaced out until the 10th year. Regardless, tomorrow is the big day. You've been too busy these past few days for me to contact you, and you were busy last year as well. So, are you in?" Ruby lowered the scroll, and briefly explained the scenario. Yang just gave Ruby a thumbs up, and the younger girl picked up the scroll again.

"We'll see you there," Ruby said reassuringly.

"Excellent," Ozpin replied. "It'll be good to get the Ember Sisters into Beacon. You're some of our more famous graduates from that year."

"Yeah," Ruby said sadly. "I guess I'll see you then."

"Goodbye Ruby." The line went dead, and Ruby turned to face Yang.

"Well," Ruby started. "I guess that we leave again."

"At least this time we get to stay for a few days," Yang said. "It kind of sucks having to travel all the time. I get really bad jet lag sometimes." Ruby just nodded, and looked ahead of Yang. She spotted the apartment, and flashed a large smile at Yang.

"Oh no you don't," Yang said. "Don't even-." Ruby took off in a flurry of rose petals, leaving Yang alone. The brawler sighed, and realized that it was going to be a while before she could shower.

_The Next Day: Beacon Airfield_

Ruby and Yang both slowly exited the bullhead that had taken them there, and looked around Beacon. They felt as though it was just the other day that both of them had marveled over the spectacle of Beacon. Now, they had seen so many things that it was going to be hard to find anything visually stunning.

"Any collapsible staffs?" Yang asked with a grin.

"A few," Ruby replied with a huge smile. "And a couple of fire swords." The sisters laughed at the memory, and just started to walk forward.

"What do you think they're gonna make us do?" Yang asked.

"Probably just socialize," Ruby replied, her eyes trailing around the students. Yang was doing the same thing, and both girls knew exactly what they were looking for. Blake and Weiss, but it would have surprised both of them to find them. From what they could understand, Weiss and Blake were often incredibly busy, similar to them. So the odds that any of their schedules would line up were slim. But that didn't mean that they couldn't hope to find them, or maybe JNPR.

"Come on Ruby," Yang said. "It looks like everyone else is flocking towards the assembly hall."

"Another initiation?" Ruby asked disgustedly. "Aw man, I thought we did this 6 years ago." Yang just gently shoved her sister, and dragged her along towards the assembly hall.

Both girls entered it, and saw how different it looked. The stages had all been moved {to which Ruby and Yang were puzzling over how they managed to do so} and they had been replaced with things such as tables holding some foods. Most people had some form of a drink in their hands, to which Yang immediately sought out for. But overall, it looked like a party atmosphere.

Everyone had gone on to do something. If one were to live out their four years of Beacon, one would go on to do something. Some teams stayed together, much as their old friends team JNPR, and went on to become famous hunter teams. Some others, such as CRDL, did minor things. They survived, but only just. Others, such as RWBY, broke apart and went off to do their own things. Of course, very few saw what RWBY had seen. Almost two years as a famous hunter team, and then becoming possibly even more famous on their own jobs.

But, many here were friends. RWBY hadn't gotten a chance to know all of them, and some of those that they did get to know perished prior to reaching the end. But they had still befriended a fair amount of students during their time at Beacon, and the sisters set out to find as many as they could.

Within a few moments, part of that ambition was killed when Yang noticed the drink table. She decided to not inform Ruby of her findings {knowing that Ruby would want anything sweet and non-alcoholic} and just left. Ruby sighed, and shook her head.

"Ruby?" A voice asked. Ruby turned around, and let a smile break out on her face.

"Hey Jaune," Ruby said happily. She wrapped up the blonde knight in a hug, and backed away after a moment. "How're things going?"

"They're going great," Jaune replied, happiness in his voice. "My team is getting called out to lots of things right now. Actually, this is the first time I've really been away from them. What about you?"

"Do you not know?" Ruby asked. Jaune shook his head.

"We've been on non-stop missions for about three months," Jaune replied. "If we weren't contacted directly we didn't see it."

"Weiss is taking up her role as an heiress and Blake joined the Faunus Rights group that just formed." Jaune went silent, and looked over at Ruby. "Yang and I are sticking together as a huntress duo, the Ember Sisters."

"I'm sorry," Jaune said. "I thought that they were just getting something."

"It's fine," Ruby replied. "You had no reason to know."

"At least they might be here," Jaune added in reassuringly. Ruby just sighed, and took a look around. She still didn't catch any sight of Weiss or Blake, and just shrugged.

"I didn't think they would be here," Ruby said sadly. "But thanks for trying Jaune." The two friends talked for a little while longer, but then Jaune looked around again.

"Well it was nice to see you again," Jaune said. "I hope that we'll get more of a chance to catch up again."

"Good to see you too Jaune," Ruby said happily. "I should probably go find Yang now." Jaune and Ruby parted ways, and Ruby set out for her misplaced sister.

She navigated through the crowds, briefly stopping to say hello to some of her friends. But Ruby had to find the drink table, which was made even more difficult since Yang didn't tell Ruby where the drink table was before taking off. Finally, Ruby spotted a blonde mane slightly higher then all of the others accompanied by another head.

"Yang!" Ruby yelled out. The blonde turned, and so did who was accompanying her. Ruby smiled in recognition, and raised up her hands. "Pyrrha!" Ruby called out.

"Ruby!" Yang replied. "I was going to return to you a while ago, but I happened to stumble upon this celebrity." Pyrrha gently slugged Yang, but faced Ruby again.

"Hello Ruby," Pyrrha said. "It's good to see you again."

"I saw Jaune earlier," Ruby said instantly. "We talked for a bit."

"That's good," Pyrrha said. "Yang was just filling me in on the fun adventures that you and Ruby had, and I gave her an interesting little piece of information as well."

"What's that?" Ruby asked, posing her question mostly at Pyrrha rather then Yang.

"Blake and Weiss are here," Yang said happily. "I don't know for how long, or where they are, but they are definitely here." Ruby's expression became one of pure joy, and she took a look around the room. Sighing as she still didn't see Weiss or Blake, Ruby raised an eyebrow at Yang.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Ruby asked. Yang nodded, and waved her hand at Ruby.

_Blake_

The Faunus was navigating the crowds slowly. She had arrived with Sun and Velvet {as neither Tauran nor Lyria attended Beacon} and instantly split off from them. She liked Velvet and she could tolerate Sun, but she saw them every day. Literally, she hadn't been without them in a month. So Blake's goals were instantly set elsewhere, find Ruby, Weiss, and Yang.

Normally Blake would have called them, but since arriving at the Faunus Camp, Blake had to swap out her number. Thus meaning she lost everyone that wasn't deemed important to her in her new job, which unfortunately cut ties with RWBY.

"Alright you three," Blake whispered. "Where are you?" Blake noticed a slight shift in the crowd, and watched as something red and black was hoisted into the air. It took but a moment for Blake's eyes to adjust, and she identified the wearer of the black and red. Smiling, Blake started to move through the crowd a little bit faster.

_Weiss_

The heiress let out another sigh as she tried to navigate through the crowded room. Since she had been {by almost every virtue} locked inside of her home, she never had to deal with any kind of crowds. Everything was simple, and very easy to do. Weiss had actually come to see the former members of her team, but so far she was having no success. It certainly didn't help that she was shorter then most of the others within the confines. So she couldn't see anyone over them.

"Is that Ruby?" One of the students in front of her asked.

"Yeah," another agreed. "What's she doing up in the air?"

"What?" Weiss asked impatiently. "Where?" One of the students pointed in a direction, and Weiss nodded in appreciation. She instantly tried to part through the crowd in the direction a little bit faster.

_Ember Sisters_

Ruby had been hoisted on Yang's shoulders. A common practice while they were younger had turned into a good way to get noticed in their current life. They rarely used the Ruby-scope unless they wanted to see something and to be seen. Now was a perfect chance.

"Oop," Ruby said suddenly. "I see a black bow, amber eyes, and wavy black hair at 2 o clock. She is on her way over here."

"Now for the heiress," Yang said quietly.

"Three o clock," Ruby called out. "She's almost here too. Don't drop me down yet, I think they see me."

"Ya think?" Yang asked with a smile. But she was smiling from ear to ear in happiness. The sisters saw the other girls get close enough, and Yang finally let Ruby down.

The students in front of them parted, leaving the former teammates to face each other.

"Blake!" Yang said instantly. She ran over, and wrapped the Faunus in a big hug. To the surprise of absolutely no one, Yang had selected to be the first to break the ice. "I missed you."

"Hey Yang," Blake replied, keeping a gentle hold on the brawler. "I missed you too." Blake made sure to keep a light hold on the brawler because she knew that as soon as Yang had finished her hug with Blake, she would move on. And if Blake's hold was too tight... Well Blake wanted to keep her arms.

"Weiss!" Yang then said, moving away from Blake. She wrapped Weiss in a hug, fighting against the heiress with every movement.

"I missed you," Weiss said. "But I'm still delicate, now put me down!" Yang dropped the heiress, and watched as Weiss regained her breath.

"I really did miss both of you," Yang said sadly. "But come on, Ruby, step in here."

"I don't want to die," Ruby said instantly.

"What does this have to do with death?"

"Getting between you and either of them is what it has to do with it." Yang just shrugged, and held her arm out. Like Yang had, Ruby chose to hug her former partner first.

"Hey again," Ruby said awkwardly.

"Hello," Weiss said, lifting her arms over the awkward girl. Ruby kept up her awkward hug, but Weiss just sighed. "You can let go whenever you please."

"Oh, sorry." Ruby backed away, and shifted her attention to Blake. Without giving the Faunus a time to think, Ruby walked over to Blake and gave her a big hug. "Hey Blake."

"Ruby," Blake replied, this time returning Ruby's hug. After a short while, she stopped hugging Ruby, and the younger girl backed off. Then, Blake and Weiss exchanged nods and smiles. Neither girl was as big on hugging as Ruby and Yang were, so they had decided that just acknowledging the other's presence was enough.

"Gah," Yang said happily. "I can't believe that it's been a month already. How have you two been doing?" Blake put on her poker face, and got ready to start.

"I've been great," Blake said. "Sun's a handful, Velvet's doing well, and I've made some new friends. We've had a good run so far."

"And I've been doing good work for my company," Weiss followed up. Both girls had practiced what it was that they would say, but both of them were lying. They hated their current jobs, but they had to lie to their former teammates. If they were to tell the truth, the way they've been justifying their lives was gone.

"That's good," Ruby said. "Yang and I have just been taking down Grimm and criminals when needed. We miss you though."

"Duty called them elsewhere," Yang said, nudging her sister slightly.

"Oh I know. It's just, it feels weird now. Almost lonely..." Ruby trailed off as she realized that she rambled on about a little bit more then she had intended. Weiss and Blake just felt their hearts twist. They wanted nothing more then to return to their prior lives. But if they were to do so, they would admit their errors.

And sometimes pride made you do things that you regret.

**End: No Torchwick/Cinder combo this chapter, but they will come. Had to work this in, things will get a little less friendly after this {since this chapter was almost all fluff}. Questions, comments, follows, favorites, and feedback is appreciated.**


	7. A Fools Move

Broken Apart Ch. 7: A Fools Move

The evening continued with lots of joy. Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang all spent their time swapping tales of what they had done. For Weiss and Blake they had to exaggerate most of what they had done. Unfortunately for them, Ruby and Yang had only told precise accounts of what they had done. It made them feel worse about their lives, but there wasn't much they could do.

"So how long will you be here?" Ruby asked.

"I managed to get a lot of time away from my family," Weiss said.

"And they were already preparing to give my group some time off," Blake added in.

"That's great!" Ruby said. "Unless someone calls us back, we're going to get a whole weekend with each other." All four of them smiled, but it seemed forced. A whole weekend to remind them of what they weren't going have.

_Hidden Complex_

Cinder walked around the rooms, and smiled. It felt good to be home again, and even better to be online again. As soon as she had returned, Cinder took inventory of every asset they had.

It included the fourteen criminals they had picked up from the prison, the twenty four individual mercenaries that had survived the prison break, and three separate groups of mercenaries that were mostly there to fill out the ranks. It wasn't ideal for their goals, but they would more then do.

Out of the fourteen criminals, only three others ran the same rank as Cinder and Torchwick. Out of the twenty four mercenaries, only six of them were high priced. And of course, there was the groups. They needed no further explanation as to why they weren't ideal.

After RWBY had killed Marcus and Cleo, along with capturing Cinder, she knew that they had only improved. Improvement meant that they would need more to bring them down. Unfortunately, the group of 11 highly ranked criminals wasn't going to cut it.

"Well then, Ms. Fall, I see you've readjusted quite well," a voice called out. Cinder turned around, and nodded.

"Yes Roman," she remarked. "But, I think that you can drop Ms. Fall. I need you as second in command and primary informant in the absence of Marcus and Cleo."

"I think I can do that," Torchwick said happily. "Now, I have good news and bad news. Which would you prefer?"

"I think that my jailed heart could use some good news right now," Cinder said drastically.

"Right. Well, the good news is that team RWBY is no more. They broke apart one month ago." Cinder smiled, and flames flashed across her body. "The bad news is that they have all continued on in difficult career paths. The snotty white one is taking on the roll of heiress for her company. The nosey black one has gone into the New Faunus Rights group. The obnoxious yellow one and of course, red, have stuck with the jobs as huntresses. That would make them easier, except they only take group jobs."

"You are right," Cinder said heavily. "That is unfortunate. But, it's also positive. Divide and conquer, am I correct on that?" Torchwick nodded, since these kinds of sayings were in his playbook. "Well, our greatest enemy has done half of the work for us. They divided themselves, and all that's left is for us to conquer." Torchwick nodded, and then looked over at the main office that was nearby.

"We should discuss our men," Torchwick said instantly. "All of them need to addressed, and more importantly we need to figure out what we want to do with them." Cinder nodded, and gestured to the door. Torchwick popped it open, and Cinder went inside.

Torchwick was already prepared for this. He had found multiple files on exactly what his new employees and allies had done, and pulled them out.

"From what I can gather," Torchwick started, taking a seat at one end of the table. "There are very few here worth noting. The criminals is overall a disappointment. The three that you said were worth noting are, but there are no surprises."

"And what of your mercenaries?" Cinder asked, rubbing two balls of flames together as she waited.

"Lots of surprises," Torchwick replied. "I can tell you that all of them are capable of dealing with run of the mill hunters, and those that weren't are already off our payroll. But only six, as you had previously guessed, are high priced. And as we have come to learn, mercenaries rarely charge more or less then their worth." Cinder nodded, and frowned.

"This news is rather unfortunate," she remarked. "But, I believe that 11 may be enough to take them out individually. But this Faunus Rights Group, what does their security look like?"

"Lots of former hunters camped out in a single location." Cinder nodded, and frowned.

"Then it looks like our best bet is to start with the heiress."

_Beacon Academy: Dorms_

Beacon was very good at hosting reunions. They hosted when school wasn't in session. They got everyone back. And perhaps most importantly, they managed to setup everyone's old dorms.

Team four former members of RWBY walked down the halls, and laughed generously. Things had been going along well. Ruby and Yang definitely supplied grand tales of their exploits, while Blake and Weiss' tales remained more modest. Of course, to get them to modest they already had to reach quite a bit.

"And you broke his nose?" Yang asked.

"Yup," Blake replied. "He pulled a sword, but luckily it was one of those times I dealt with a drunk. Didn't even draw Gambol Shroud."

"All this unnecessary violence," Weiss muttered. "And all I do is fence."

"What was that?" Ruby asked her former partner.

"I just remarked on how much more violence there is on your side of things," Weiss continued, changing around her words. Truthfully, Weiss missed killing Grimm. She felt as though she was doing something with her life, something for the good of everyone. "All I do is negotiations and occasionally fence." _Which is only beneficial for my parents company, _Weiss thought angrily. Weiss even had to add in something as boring as negotiations, as she didn't even do that. But being ever the dignitary, Weiss didn't let anything show.

The four girls reached their former dorm, and popped it open.

"What?" Ruby said, her face showing mass amounts of confusion.

"Is this real?" Weiss asked.

"I'm not sure," Blake continued.

"Man, they are really thorough," Yang continued. The girls had walked into something that seemed very familiar to the dorm they had used in their time at Beacon. The personal items were all missing, sure. But, something that had surprised them, the beds were bunk beds. More importantly, they were held up in the same way as they had been when RWBY was staying at the dorms.

"Well," Ruby said after she recovered from the initial surprise. "I get top bunk."

"Well they did go through all of this trouble to get it exactly right," Weiss continued. "So I'll take the bottom bunk, Ruby'll take the top bunk, Blake'll take the other bottom bunk, and Yang'll take the last bed."

"You really are a dignitary now," Blake remarked. "And trust me, I've dealt with quite the few in my last month."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

And so the four girls unpacked their small bags. Weiss had the largest, while Ruby and Yang tied for the smallest. But all of them had only packed for a single weekend at Beacon, and so they were prepared. After they had finished, all four girls took a seat in their beds.

The first feeling that came to Weiss was uneasiness. As much as she had enjoyed her time at Beacon, the execution that rested above her head never made her feel anything but dread and impending doom.

"How're you feeling?" Ruby called down.

"Fine," Weiss said through gritted teeth.

"You don't sound it," Ruby said sweetly.

"I hate you," Weiss said again. Ruby went silent for a moment, and Weiss just sighed. "You do realize I was joking, right?"

"Oh yeah," Ruby called down. "I just don't have a reply."

"Dolt," Weiss muttered. There was a slight pause, but then both girls started to laugh.

"I miss this," Ruby said softly. Weiss elected not to reply, but those words cut deep.

After their rocky start, Ruby and Weiss' relationship had grown in leaps and bounds. Weiss began to trust in the younger girls leadership skills, while Ruby agreed to let Weiss aid in her maturation process. Things weren't always smooth, Ruby's youth and Weiss' poor tolerance saw to that, but they always pulled together. They had to as partners. Now, they were apart. Weiss assumed it would have been easier than it was, but the lack of anything to do of any importance saw to making that claim false.

"Hey Weiss," Ruby called out.

"Hm?" Weiss called back, snapping back to reality.

"If you could come back and make us Embers and Ice, would you do it?" Weiss froze. She wasn't expecting this to be offered. Here was Ruby, offering her a way out of the boring life that she currently lead. Sure it wouldn't make her family happy, but she was more then prepared to take over the company. All she had to do was say yes.

But saying yes would erase everything that she had thrown up. All of the things that she had lied about would be brought to the forefront. Everything that she had done would be confirmed that she was doing nothing important. So what would it be? Pride or happiness?

"I can't," Weiss said. "I have to complete my training and then take over the company. Thanks though."

"Oh," Ruby said sadly. "Okay." From there, silence filled the right side of the room.

Yang and Blake hadn't heard anything. Yang was still filling Blake with stories, as that was her personality. Blake remained silent, only contributing a few stories here and there.

"I miss our talks," Yang said.

"If you want to call them talks," Blake added in.

"Okay, I miss talking to you."

"That's a little bit better." There was a brief pause of silence, but Yang was able to follow up.

"Any interesting people over at the New Faunus Rights Group?" She asked.

"Yup," Blake replied. "Tauran Brownfur and Lyria Spots. There interesting, kind of like the odd couple of strength and speed."

"Like you and me, ey Blakey?" Yang challenged. Blake went silent for a moment, but then decided to follow up.

"Like you and I were," Blake corrected.

"Right. Were." Yang went silent for a little bit longer, but then came up with something else. "Hey Blake."

"What?" Blake asked as she curled up a little bit more.

"How about you come and join up with me and Ruby again? We could be a trio, and you'd still be doing good. I'm sure that Sun would get a new partner, and that these people would be able to fill in for you." Blake felt conflict enter her mind, and she leaned back.

There was nothing in the world that she wanted more then to join up again. Even without Weiss, three members of her old team would be more fulfilling then anything that she was currently doing. But that being said, Blake still wanted to believe that the New Faunus Rights Group could be impactful. She wanted to think that they were going to make a difference.

"I can't leave my job, Yang," Blake said. "But I'm glad you offered."

"Had to try," Yang said. What Yang couldn't see was the single tear that rested in Blake's eye.

**End: Questions, comments, follows, favorites, and feedback is appreciated.**


	8. Attempts

Broken Apart Ch. 8: Attempts

Weiss walked around her mansion, and sighed. It was the day after what was easily the best weekend she had had in a month. Leaving had hurt, but it was necessary. Or so Weiss told herself. She could have accepted Ruby's offer, it would have been easy enough to leave her mansion for months without anyone noticing. But Weiss' pride and dedication to her work had left her stuck.

Arriving "home" after her weekend had left Weiss with an empty feeling. Fun, friends, good times, amusement, enjoyment, all of these things were present at Beacon but not at her own home. She blinked away a pair of tears, and shook her head. _Focus Weiss, _she thought. _You have a duty to fulfill. _

She looked around at the servants and guards around her house, and sighed. Half of them were humans while the other half were Faunus. Technically speaking, one of the new Faunus Labor Laws stated that the difference of Faunus and human work force couldn't be more then 65-35 in either direction. But Weiss' father saw benefit in hiring 50/50 amounts.

"No sense in giving the New Faunus Rights group a reason to come after us," Weiss' father had said. Weiss had only nodded at the time, not really seeing the significance in it. But now, her view was changed. It would be a chance to see Blake since that was the career path she had taken.

How funny it was that Blake joined a second Faunus Rights group. She had been one of the instrumental pieces in taking down the first one.

In their third year, the White Fang tried to become more aggressive against hunters and huntresses. They almost did, but the hunters and huntresses had the advantage of one former White Fang at their disposal. Blake had revealed many ins and outs, and while some had changed most did not. The White Fang fell, and the New Faunus Rights group rose up to become the new symbol for the Faunus, and this time they were going to be policed.

"You two," Weiss ordered a nearby pair of body guards {one Faunus and one human}. "Follow me."

"Any reason why, Ms. Schnee?" The Faunus {wolf} asked.

"I want to take a stroll and you know how my father is," Weiss replied. Both of them shrugged, and Weiss made her way out into the front lawn.

She strolled through the walkways, and ran her hand through the flowers. She reached a small patch, and froze. The flowers were red, white, purple, and yellow. They were a portion of the garden planted in honor of her graduation with team RWBY. They took care of them, but the flowers were predicted to die after a year. Here they were, two and a half years later, and they still lived.

"Ms. Schnee?" The human security guard asked. "Any reason for the pause."

"The flowers, Luther," Weiss said. "These are the graduation flowers."

"Still alive, huh?" The Faunus asked.

"Yes, Lincoln," Weiss replied.

"Do you miss them?" Luther pursued.

"Every day," Weiss replied. "I'm doing nothing of importance here."

"Then go back," Lincoln contributed.

"I have a duty to fulfill," Weiss argued.

"A duty only means as much as the overall worth," Luther pushed. "Your worth more out there then you are in here." Weiss smiled at Luther, and thought for a moment. Her thoughts were interrupted by a sudden movement, which brought Weiss' eyes to Lincoln.

"What are you-?" Weiss started. Before she could continue, Lincoln shoved her out of the way and a bullet struck across his side, it's momentum slowed down by his aura. But it still went into him, and Weiss and Luther both widened their eyes in surprise.

"Get down Ms. Schnee," Luther ordered.

"The hell I will," Weiss snapped back. She raised up two glyphs on either side of her, and picked up a pistol that rested by Lincoln's body. "Call an ambulance and more security." Luther nodded, and pulled out his phone. Weiss kept up the glyphs while both her and Luther kept eyes where the glyphs couldn't be.

_Nearby_

The assassin raised his line of sight away from the scope and looked over the scene. His semblance took care of the noise, and it was clear that his target and one of her bodyguards had no idea as to where he was. But the first guard had prevented his shot from striking his target, and her glyphs made it impossible for his bullets to go through. He reached up to his earpiece, and clicked on the automatic patch.

"Target is alive," he said into his communications device. "Objective failed."

"Stay and finish the job," an angry voice replied.

"Sir, you paid me because you know that I'm a skilled assassin. The target has raised her glyphs, she is clearly alert to my presence."

"And the issue is?"

"The issue is that I can't shoot through the glyphs."

"Then wait for them to be lowered."

"A skilled assassin doesn't let themselves be caught." He heard a line of silence, and then a sigh.

"Return to base," his employer finally said. "Just know that we're displeased with you right now."

"A danger of the job," he replied. The assassin took to his feet, and brushed his long green cloak to the side. He took one last look over the surrounding areas with his emerald eyes, and tried to note a better spot. There was always round two for redemption.

_New Faunus Rights Camp_

Blake jumped into her bunk and let out a groan. Her first day back on the job, and almost instantly she was reminded why she hated it. Two broken noses, three cracked wrists, and six cases closed. It was almost no fun when people gave in instantly, because it made Blake feel even more worthless.

"What a great first day back," Sun said as he entered into the room. "This job is so easy."

"Which is why I hate it," Blake grumbled.

"Woho, someone is a bit catty today," he said with a grin. Blake glared daggers at him, and Sun harmlessly raised up his hands. "You should have gone back with your team," Sun said immediately.

"What?" Blake asked.

"You're not fooling anyone kitty cat. You'd rather be there then here." Blake shrugged, and Sun just sighed. "You're impossible."

"You've never met yourself drunk," someone said from the front of their tent. Blake and Sun turned, and saw Tauran with someone else. His company was female, and she had long gray hair. Within her hair was a series of black spots that ran all the way down to the bottom of her hair, which ran to just under her shoulders. She stood two and half heads shorter then her partner, and her frame was built only just above skeletal. Her eyes was a brilliant shade of amber, very similar to Blake's. She was dressed in a long gray fur coat with black spots decorating it. It remained buttoned almost exclusively, so no one knew what it was that she wore underneath it. What was visible was the tips of two whip swords that remained tucked into her sleeves. The whip swords were long blades with two pistols attached to the base and the tips of the blades. Her name was Lyria Spots, and she was Tauran's partner.

"Lyria and Tauran?" Sun started. "Why did we receive this pleasure."

"Can it Wukong," Tauran said. He knew that Sun didn't hand out compliments to anyone directly.

"What my disgruntled partner is trying to say," Lyria cut in. "Is that the four of us have a mission. Someone got shot, and it appears that they're a Faunus worker."

"Four of us?" Blake asked. "The ruler of the Faunus world better of gotten shot for four people to be sent to investigate."

"Actually only myself and Tauran got invited," Lyria corrected. "But, you have a history with this particular Faunus. Well, at least with his employer."

"Really?" Blake asked. "And who would that be?"

_Ruby and Yang's Huntress Home_

Ruby flipped through more of the case files that had been sent to them, and sighed. Nothing really seemed interesting to her, especially since she had been so close to getting RWBY back together. As her and Yang planned, they asked their former partners to rejoin. Both of them got similar answers, and both of the answers meant rejection.

"You got anything?" Yang called out from the kitchen.

"No," Ruby said dejectedly.

"No challenges? Nothing with other people?"

"No," Ruby repeated sadly. Yang sighed, and walked over to her younger sister. She grabbed onto Ruby's shoulders, and started to rub them slowly.

"I know you feel sad that we couldn't get them to rejoin," Yang said softly. "But you have to let go of it. It was a shot in the dark."

"That doesn't make it any better," Ruby said.

"Ruby, we have to move onto our job. It's important."

"I know it is, but we're also being kept apart from our partners and teammates by important jobs. Yang, I think-." Ruby was cut off by a blaring sound from her scroll. "Hang on, it's the private line." Ruby picked it up, and briefly checked the name. She paused from surprise, but clicked on answer.

"Ozpin?" Ruby said cautiously.

"Ms. Rose," the voice of her former headmaster replied. "How are you?"

"I'm fine," Ruby replied skeptically. "What's our mission?"

"Well, there was an assassination attempt. We needed a team or a highly regarded duo to take care of it. Normally we wouldn't call in a duo, but you two have the background that we desired."

"What do you mean?" Ruby asked.

"The airship is at the airfield just outside of your home," Ozpin continued. "Fly safely." The line went dead, and Ruby looked down at it.

"I hate it when he does that," Ruby mumbled.

"What's up?" Yang asked. "What are we doing?"

"Some kind of a protection job I think," Ruby said. "He said that there was an assassin attempt and that he needed a highly regarded duo to take care of it."

"Attempt leads me to believe that they're still alive," Yang stated.

"Well, duh."

"Who for?" The blonde pursued.

"All he said was that we had the background necessary and then he hung up." Yang just shook her head, and smiled.

"He likes to do that, huh? Nothing's ever straight forward." Ruby just nodded, and looked out the window. The airfield was within a rocks throw {even without Yang or Ruby's strength}, and she could see the pilot waiting on them.

"I guess we should see what this is about," Ruby said. Yang nodded, and picked up her travel bag. Ruby already had hers slung over her shoulder, and both girls set out for the airfield.

_Hidden Complex_

The tall assassin strolled through the halls. His green cloak rolled on the ground, and his two daggers rested within partial view from within it. His sniper rested on a sling over his shoulder, and his emerald eyes and black hair made him stand out. It was the only thing apart from his height that really made him standout from the crowd. The brilliance of his eyes in contrast to the muted pallet of the rest of his appearance.

He walked right over to the main planning room, and calmly opened it up. He noticed his two primary employers standing around a table, and sighed. It was not looking good for him.

"Ah," the woman, Cinder he believed it was, said. "It's you. Come over here, and have a seat." The assassin complied, and took a seat in the chair that she had indicated.

"Do you know why we called you here?" The male, Torchwick asked.

"It's most likely because one of the Schnee girl's bodyguards pushed her out of the way and took the bullet," he said easily.

"Now why would he do that?" Cinder asked easily, placing a ball of flames within her hands.

"Eyesight," he said slowly. "He appeared to be a Faunus, thus making it extremely likely that his sudden reaction was brought on by the notice of something."

"I thought you said you wouldn't be spotted," Torchwick replied.

"A single error in my career. I'm sure that you'll find that the rest of it is more than-."

"Stop!" Cinder ordered. He complied, and leaned back in his chair. "Tell me, what's your name?"

"Distrio Columbi," the man added in. "Or better known as simply the sniper."

"Distrio," Torchwick continued. "Do you understand the importance of this shot?"

"A chance to kill a Dust company heiress," Distrio continued.

"Wrong!" Cinder snapped. "This heiress was an instrumental piece of killing two of my compatriots, several of my associates, and imprisoning me. You were one of those people to break me out, am I correct?" Distrio nodded, beginning to realize exactly what was going on.

"Failure here meant a very hard task down the road," Torchwick pursued. "And now it seems as though our job has been made harder because of you. Do you know how difficult it is to forgive?" Distrio nodded slowly, and went to reach for his daggers. Before he got a chance, Cinder slipped both of them from their sheaths and held them up to his throat. Her hands began to glow, and the blades temperature began to rise.

"It would be so simple to kill you right now," Cinder said, pushing the blade closer. At this point, the only thing keeping Distrio alive was his aura. "Your semblance could silence things, and then mine would leave almost no mess. You'd still be dead, but I wouldn't have to clean anything up." Distrio closed his eyes, and waited for death to greet him. Before it could, all of the pressure was relieved.

"Luckily for you, we still need an assassin of your caliber," Torchwick said. "You can kill without being heard or seen, and most importantly we need someone who can take one shot and kill everything he needs too." Distrio nodded appreciatively, and looked down at the desk. He could see his contract on top, and he already knew the next part.

"A pay cut will be necessary," Cinder started. "Complete our next three tasks, and we'll bump it back up. Are we clear?" Distrio nodded, understanding that he had no leverage in this discussion. "Good. Now, here's an image and a location." Cinder handed over a single file, and watched as Distrio flipped through it.

"This location will be difficult to access," Distrio noted. "Give me one day of prep work, and I can have it done."

"You have three hours," Torchwick said impatiently.

"Then I will adjust."

"Excellent," Cinder said. "Time to let them know that we have returned."

**End: Ending it before most would like me too probably. Pull out your American History books for the origins of the three OC's that made a first appearance here {not counting Lyria as she was mentioned in an earlier chapter}. Questions, comments, follows, favorites, and feedback is appreciated. **


	9. Protection

Broken Apart Ch. 9: Protection

**First off, I'm finally off my terrible Chromebook. Now, I have a MacBookPro {am I doing this writing thing right yet?}. Now I'm gonna issue a challenge. Somebody here should try and guess who Mr. Columbi is based off of {hint, his nickname is a clue}. ****Otherwise, not much to address. Except thank you to everyone for getting me to 60 followers! I still haven't even do more propper chapters then prologuing. Let's resume.**

Distrio patiently awaited on his target to walk into view. Another error would not be permitted, as he understood the consequence. He watched as the man strolled into view, and smiled.

Distrio placed down a single hand on the barrel of the rifle, and felt his semblance come into play. Silence, that was his semblance. Anything he touched instantly made no noise. A useful skill for an assassin to have, and one that he took full advantage of.

He leveled the sights at the man, and calmly rested his hand on the trigger. He slowly pulled it, and felt the weapon go off. The bullet traveled through the air, and went straight through his taget's chest. After he watched the target dropped, Distrio reached his hand up to his headset.

"Mission complete," he said simply. "Target's dead."

"On the path to redemption," Torchwick replied. "Get moving, Sniper. We still have other contracts for you to complete." Distrio hung up, and picked up his rifle. He waved his goodbyes to the structure in front of him, and took off.

_Airship: Ruby and Yang_

The sisters sat across from each other in silence. Neither of them really knew what to expect, but neither of them were being quiet for that reason. They just were sick of flying at that point. So many trips in the past few days and they had really become desensitized to it.

The airship finally went into a hover mode, and slowly lowered itself to the ground.

"Looks like the bull stops here," Yang remarked.

"That joke still isn't funny," Ruby replied easily. Yang frowned, but rose to her feet. Ruby followed suit, and watched as the door was let down.

Both girls walked out onto the airfield, and looked out at the garden that was in front of them. It was large, and mostly populated with hedges, trees, and white flowers. The hedges were styled to look like everything from Grimm to people, and everything looked well cared for.

"This place looks familiar," Ruby remarked.

"It's not like someone only gets targeted for an assassination once," Yang replied easily. "I'm sure we've been here at least once before." Ruby nodded, but couldn't shake the feeling that she should know this place. Pushing the thoughts aside, Ruby turned to face Yang.

"The New Faunus Rights group have sent over four agents," Ruby said. "Our first priority is to find them so that-."

"Ruby?" A hesitant voice asked. "Yang?" The sisters turned around, and let out a small noise of surprise. Behind them was a bull Faunus and a lynx Faunus with whom they had no prior affiliation with. But accompanying them was Sun Wukong and Blake Belladonna, their former teammate.

"Blake!" Both sisters said in unison. They both ran towards Blake and wrapped her in a hug. Despite having seen her so recently, both Ruby and Yang had already pushed Blake out of the thoughts of seeing her soon. So this early revisit was a real treat to them, and just seeing Blake made their hearts soar.

"Hi guys," Blake said, very delicately hugging both of them back. "Can you get off of me now?" Ruby and Yang complied, and backed away from Yang.

"Ahem," Sun coughed. "I'm here too."

"Hi Sun," Ruby said, waving at him.

"I never liked you," Yang said bluntly. Sun dead froze, a rare moment where the monkey clown was left without a joke or a witty response.

"He does have that affect on people," the bull Faunus said bluntly.

"He sure does," Yang said. "Hey, who are you two?"

"I'm Lyria Spots," the lynx Faunus said. "And my disgruntled partner here is Tauran Brownfur. We're the two that originally got tasked with the mission, but then we noticed who the attempt was on. So we decided to inform Blake and Sun, since they are a pair, and see if they wanted to come along. Obviously they agreed."

"Thanks Lyria," Ruby said, walking over to shake her hand. "I owe you one."

"Give me a reason to enjoy this stay here, and I'll be in _your _debt," Lyria joked. Ruby smiled, and walked over to shake Tauran's hand. She whimpered slightly at the sheer size contrast from his hand to her hand, and slowly shook it.

"Yes, my hands are large," Tauran said. "But I'm not just all bulk, Rose."

"Rose?" Ruby asked.

"Those that deserve respect get their last name first," Tauran said easily. "From what I can tell, the Ember Sisters are more then deserving of that title."

"Oh," Ruby said, blushing slightly at the large man's praise. "Well, thanks. Can I still call you Tauran?" The bull laughed, and his laugh had the same deep tone to it that his speaking voice did.

"Sure thing." Yang greeted Tauran, and then the six stood still for a moment.

"So," Ruby said slowly. "We should probably go and meet who it is that we're protecting."

"Meet?" Blake asked. "Do you know who we're meeting?"

"Uhhh," Ruby and Yang said in unison. "No?" Blake just shook her head, and smiled.

"Ozpin must have sent you," she said softly. "Only he has the sense of humor to do this." Blake raised her voice so the sisters could hear her, and then started to walk. "Come on, we'll fill you in on the details."

_Schnee Conference Room_

Weiss was sitting calmly at the head of the table. She had been required to go to the conference room as it was the most secure room in the house. It was perfectly in the center, equidistant from the roof, subbasement, and all four walls to ensure that you would have to fight through multiple layers of security just to get to it. Plus, the room was both fully proofed of bullets and sound. Weiss' parents had informed Weiss that the people they had to negotiate with were too important to _not _make these modifications.

Weiss however, was nervous. She had been previously informed of who the New Faunus Rights group and who Beacon {as they decided to see as to whom was sent to look after Weiss} and that made her afraid. It was so soon after she had met up with her former teammates, and that didn't sit well with Weiss. She had been so close to accepting Ruby's offer after one day with her. Weiss wasn't sure that if Ruby were to ask her again, she'd be able to say no.

Weiss head some people stop and talk outside of the door, and she gathered herself. Luther opened up the door, and the six people assigned to her security detail walked into the room.

"Weiss!" Ruby and Yang called out instantly. Both girls made a move to ran at Weiss, but the heiress calmly raised her hand to stop them.

"We have unpleasant matters to discuss," Weiss said calmly, turning into the dignitary that she was trained to be. "I'd rather save any kind of informal greetings for another time." Ruby and Yang paused, and slowly stepped back. "Take a seat, all of you." Weiss gestured to open seats around the rectangular table, and the six of them complied.

"Now," Weiss said instantly. "I was informed of all of you and your accolades, apart from those that I helped achieve, so there is no need for introductions."

"Aw man," Sun said, casually kicking his boots up on the table. "I love hearing about people I already know." Weiss raised up a glyph, and pushed his boots off the table, flipping Sun over at the same time.

"Keep your boots off the table," Weiss ordered easily. "Otherwise, the consequences could be worse." Sun got to his feet, and sat down. Weiss smiled at her control of the situation. She would never actually punish Sun for kicking his feet up on the table, she just wasn't a fan of his. "Now, tell me, what is it that you know of my situation?"

"You were out in the garden," Blake started, taking control of the situation. "Your bodyguard, Lincoln I believe, saw something and pushed you out of the way. A sniper round was fired, and luckily you were not hurt."

"I can't say the same for Lincoln," Weiss said sadly. "He'll live, but we had to have an operation to get the bullet out. He even assured me he'd be back to work tomorrow. Sometimes I think it's a good thing that I have crazy protection." Weiss shook her head, but then refocused her attention. "What do you think of the shooter?"

"Our turn," Ruby muttered. "Okay, so there was no sound from the shot. That means either some really high tech, or a silencing semblance. We shopped around on the market to see, and there are only a few people with access to that. We ran over some resources, and came up with a name." Yang tapped something out on her scroll, and slid it into the middle of the table. A single holographic image came up, and it revealed a man with a green cloak, two daggers, a bandana covering his face, and a sniper resting in his arms.

"Distrio Columbi," Yang started. "AKA, the Sniper. He comes at a high price for two reasons. One, he doesn't miss. Two, he has a silencing semblance. Now, Mr. Columbi was spotted at the prison break of fifteen criminals, including one Cinder Fall. Our theory is that Torchwick hired him a few months back, and kept him under wraps until he was needed."

"Interesting theory," Weiss said slowly. "But don't you think that you're connecting too many dots that aren't meant to be connected?"

"Nope," Yang said. "I talked to my connections, and Distrio would never disappear for this long unless he was being paid to keep quiet. Only a few people actually have the money to do that. One of them is Torchwick, who'd want Cinder out and you dead."

"Before you say anything," Ruby said, placing her hand on the table and sitting upright. "Yang and I work within this realm, and we're the only ones that do. We have the connections, and we know our stuff. So don't question us. If there was a candidate as likely, we would tell you." Weiss sighed, and realized that there were correct.

"Excellent analysis," Weiss confessed. "Now, I will have to inform you of the details of you on protection as this is why you're here. I apologize in advance for the terms, they are my father's and not my own."

"I've had to protect some real assholes," Tauran snorted. "I'm sure that it'll be fine."

"Right," Weiss muttered. "At all times, I must have three people accompanying myself, along with Luther and Lincoln. The other three are allowed to investigate freely as they so choose. When I am retired to my quarters, three people are required to retire to there along with me. There are no Faunus/human ratio that is necessary. It is late today, and so my retiring will come now as it's been fairly eventful today. Who will come with me?" Ruby and Yang instantly stood up, and looked over at Weiss.

"You're our former teammate," Ruby said. "We were in the same room as you for almost six years. We've got this." Blake looked at Tauran, Lyria, and Sun with her eyebrow raised. The three of them gestured for Blake to go ahead, and the Faunus raised her hand.

"Why not?" She stated. "Complete the team." Weiss lost some of the color in her face, but tried to hide it.

"Very well then," Weiss said. She rose to her feet, and gestured for the other six to follow her. "I'll show you to my quarters and to the guest quarters as well. Well, guest quarters situated next to my room."

_Hallway_

Weiss walked down the hall, and pointed at one of the doorways.

"Tauran, Lyria, and Sun, you three will be staying here," Weiss said. The three of them opened up the door, and checked inside.

"Seems plenty big," Tauran observed.

"Don't worry," Weiss said. "All of the rooms are of absurd size just in case."

"See you in the morning, Schnee," Tauran said.

"Goodnight." The door closed behind the three Faunus, and Weiss turned to her teammates. "Here is my room." Weiss held her arm out to the left, and walked towards a room. She popped open the door, and the four girls entered into the room.

The room was massive. It had two beds set up, along with a couch and a sleeping bag. The couch was closest to the window and one of the beds was furthest away. The entirety of the room was white, and very little of it was covered with anything personal beyond a few pieces of art. Weiss had certainly been careful about making sure that all of the photos of her time with RWBY were kept hidden.

"I will take the bed the furthest from the window," Weiss said. "The rest of you should sort out where it is that you'll sleep."

"Dibs on bed!" Ruby and Yang called out in unison. Both of the sisters stopped, and stared at each other. They held out there hands in a fist, and took a deep breath in. "One, two, three, shoot," the said in unison. Ruby's hand was still in a fist, while Yang's rested in a scissor pattern.

"Dammit," Yang mumbled.

"Haha!" Ruby said happily. She jumped onto the second bed, and went to work taking off her boots. Yang turned towards the couch, but saw that Blake was already lying on it.

"Son of a bitch," Yang muttered.

"Daughter of a pussy would be more accurate," Blake said easily. She got a little bit more settled in, and closed her eyes. She was asleep instantly.

Yang just sighed, and laid down in the sleeping bed. She curled up, and closed her eyes. Weiss watched as Ruby looked over at her sister and Blake, and sat up in her bed.

"Guess I'm up first," she muttered. "Weiss, do you want to get changed?" Weiss nodded, and elegantly strolled over to the bathroom attached to the room. Ruby remained seated, and carefully looked out of the window. She wanted to ask Weiss to rejoin her and Yang, but she was afraid. If she asked Weiss, it was entirely possible that Weiss would just send both her and Yang away and get unaffiliated hunters. That was not something that Ruby would risk.

Yet.

The bathroom door opened up again, and Weiss walked back out. She was dressed in her lace blouse, and she entered her bed silently.

"Are you going to sleep?" Weiss asked Ruby.

"I'm taking watch," Ruby said instantly.

"That's ridiculous," Weiss told her. "I don't need a watch."

"Well you did get shot at," Ruby replied easily. Weiss sighed, and stubbornly sat up. "Yeah, I figured you'd do that." Both girls sat in silence, but then Ruby looked back at Weiss. "Can I hug you?" Weiss stopped from surprise, and then shook her head.

"Why?" Weiss asked.

"Because I missed you," Ruby whined.

"Ruby, we didn't see each other for a day."

"I still missed you," Ruby muttered. Weiss sighed, and gestured that it was okay for Ruby to hug her. She eagerly ran over to Weiss, and gave Weiss a hug. After a few moments, Ruby stopped and returned to her bed. Weiss had been very careful to not hug Ruby back, no matter how badly she wanted too.

"So what about your parents?" Ruby asked. "How're they holding up."

"Fine as far as I know," Weiss said simply.

"Well I feel like they'd have to be pretty concerned."

"Not concerned enough to come and see me," Weiss said, her voice suddenly catching. It was true. Her parents had refused to stop their meeting to see their daughter who had been shot at. Insisting that their business was simply too important.

"I'm sorry Weiss," Ruby said softly.

"No," Weiss said. "They have done nothing for me in a month. I've done nothing but see tutors and be shot at. I hate this life, I hate it." Weiss froze as she realized what she had said, and Ruby's eyes grew wide.

"I thought you had done other things..." Ruby muttered.

"No," Weiss said sadly. "I've only been used for entertainment. I've just been stuck in this place, forced to abide by my parents idiotic rules." She shook her head, and instantly tucked herself into her bed.

"I'm tired," Weiss said, her voice sounding nothing but sad. "Goodnight."

"Night," Ruby said. Weiss closed her eyes, and Ruby just thought over the information that she had been presented. She wasn't sure as to what she was supposed to do with it, so Ruby just watched for any outside movement.

**End: Questions, comments, follows, favorites, and feedback is appreciated.**


	10. Discussions

Broken Apart Ch. 10: Discussions

**Thank you to everyone for getting me to 40 favorites! Otherwise, nothing else to address, no one has any ideas of what Distrio is based off of. Let's begin.**

Blake was the first to awake. Her sleeping patterns always involved going to sleep early and waking up early, despite how often Yang had insisted that Blake stay up and drink with her. Blake had waited for her watch, but it seemed as though it wouldn't come. When Blake awoke, she saw that Ruby was still up. Her eyes were thrashed from a night of staying awake, leaving Blake to ponder why.

"Ruby?" Blake asked quietly. Ruby snapped her head over to the couch, and focused in her look at Blake.

"Hey Blake," Ruby said, exhaustion filling her voice.

"Why didn't you get us up?" Blake questioned.

"You looked so peaceful," Ruby replied. "And I didn't. So I thought it'd be a fair trade." Blake shook her head at Ruby's logic, and smiled. Even after six years, the innocence that Ruby possessed was remarkable. Something that sweet would only be said by a child, and crossing over the age of 18 hadn't changed what Ruby had said.

"Get some sleep," Blake said. "It's Weiss, so you have another five hours for sleep that you can get. Might as well rest while you can." Ruby nodded, and fell asleep on the bed. Blake looked over at Weiss, and then out the window. While it wasn't night and she didn't have the best advantage, Blake still had an enhanced sight.

She saw nothing. There wasn't anything out of the ordinary, and that didn't concern Blake. A trained sniper, especially one of Distrio's prowess, would not attempt a second shot so soon after the first one failed. So Blake just looked out patiently, fully aware that she had some time to herself before Weiss awoke.

_Hidden Complex_

Distrio slowly opened the door, and walked into his room. He casually tossed his sniper aside, and pulled out one of his daggers. He carefully inspected the blade, and then noticed some grime. Distrio rarely had to use his daggers, as it was seldom that his targets ever got that close. But if they did, they would have something melee and he really didn't want to sacrifice any mechanic to his rifle. So he purchased two daggers made from the finest steel, and he knew how to use them.

A faint knock was heard at his door, and Distrio looked up.

"Come in," he offered. The door opened, and he saw one of the people who were broken out of the prison there. "What is it?"

"Torchwick and Cinder sent me in to give you a message," the prisoner replied gruffly. He was a large man. He stood a good six feet and weighed at least 250 pounds. He was covered head to toe in plate armor, which probably brought his weight up even higher then what most would consider possible for a single man. He had a club of some kind strapped to his waist, which only furthered Distrio's guess that he was pure strength.

"Well then," Distrio said, calmly tossing his dagger into the air. "I believe it would be in my best interest to hear this."

"Your pay cut has been reduced by 1/3," the man started. "Kill the other two targets with as much efficiency as the first, and you'll be rewarded with the rest of your pay being restored."

"Thank you," Distrio said calmly. The man nodded, and started to leave the room. "Wait!" Distrio called out. "What is your name?"

"I don't understand how this matters," the man replied impatiently.

"Well there may come a day when I have to shoot to save you or shoot to kill you. I have never saved a man I didn't know the name of, nor have I ever killed a man that I didn't know the name of. I'd prefer to avoid doing both."

"You saved me," the man argued.

"I saved those that Torchwick hired from being killed," Distrio continued. "They could have been freeing you, raping you, or just visiting you for all I could have cared. I didn't save you. Now tell me, your name?" The man hesitated, slightly worried about giving out his name, in case Distrio planed to kill him. "If you think that this'd save you if I were to be ordered to kill you, you're sorely mistaken. I don't kill a man I don't know the name of for pleasure. But if I have a contract and it gives your physical description... Well, money trumps honor."

"Just call me BB," the man replied.

"Ah, I thought you looked familiar," Distrio said. "You're the Barothins Bludgeoner. That mace should have been a dead giveaway."

"Aye," the man replied. "Took half the Barothins police to do so, but I was taken down and thrown into a max security cell. Torchwick bailed me out, and now I get to kill."

"It is good to see a man with his priorities straight," Distrio said. He waved his hand dismissively. "You're free to go." BB nodded, and left the room. Distrio just cleaned off his dagger and tucked it away.

He took the three pieces of paper that were laid out on the table next to him, and looked at the first one. Smiling to himself, Distrio took a lit match to it and watched as the parchment went up in flames. He looked at the other two, and traced his fingers over them. He left it over one, and picked up his sniper. Time to play would come later, after he collected his check.

_Schnee Manor: Later_

Weiss felt herself stir slowly. Her eyes fluttered open, and she noticed that Blake was seated near the window. Yang was snoring loudly, something that Weiss had learned to ignore over time. Ruby was also asleep, so that meant that it was just the two of them.

"Morning," Weiss yawned.

"It's noon," Blake replied. Weiss just sighed.

"Ever so formal," Weiss chided.

"You're the one that just said, 'ever so formal,'" Blake countered. Weiss pondered it for a moment, and the nodded.

"What are you looking for?" Weiss asked.

"Someone, something, anything out of the ordinary," Blake said. "You only have 14 gardeners on staff that work from 8:30-11:30, correct?" Weiss nodded. "Damn. Well there's no assassin in your gardening team."

"Good work," Weiss replied. Blake nodded, but noticed how cold and stiff that Weiss had been. It raised questions for her, but Blake played it off as being Weiss' nature. "Mind if I join you?" Weiss suddenly ask. Blake just shrugged, and pointed to the couch. Weiss took a seat, and looked over at Ruby and Yang.

"I'm not surprised that you're awake," Weiss said. "But I am surprised that both Ruby and Yang are still slumbering."

"Ruby didn't relieve either of us for watch," Blake said. "And so when I woke up, I sent her to bed. Yang just hasn't woken up." Weiss nodded, and continued to stare at Blake.

"Blake, I want you to tell me the truth here," Weiss said. "And if you lie, I'll know."

"You're not as intimidating as you think," Blake replied easily.

"Do you hate your job?" Weiss suddenly asked. Blake paused, and fell silent. She was not expecting that question.

"No," Blake replied cooly. "Why do you ask?"

"Because I know you're lying," Weiss replied. "Those stories you told were all false. Ruby and Yang wanted to believe that it was true, but I'm not so foolish. I would have heard about 40% of those things as they directly related to this companies resources. The other 60% may have been enough to make the news, and I spend a lot of time on the news. So tell me Blake, do you hate your job?" Blake went quiet. Weiss had asked for a reason, and any defense that Blake had was torn down prior to her even saying a word.

"Yes," Blake finally said. "I deal with common thieves and racists every day. I break a few noses and fingers, and then they are willing to accept that they're lying. Occasionally they'll be telling the truth, but 'Faunus piece of shit' isn't exactly a great way to plead your innocence." Weiss nodded, and sat as dignified as possible.

"I only ask because it seems as though only Ruby and Yang are having any fun," Weiss said. Blake took a moment to recognize what Weiss had just said, and Weiss noticed this. "I spend my days learning things I already know, and my nights crying myself to sleep as I know my parents won't return. I used to think, 'I could get shot, and my father would still be off trying to buy and destroy another person's company.' Yesterday only proved that." Weiss stopped, and took a deep breath in. After losing it in front of Ruby, Weiss had found it easier to keep her composure.

"We are living empty lives," Weiss said sadly. "And it took a murder attempt to get me to realize just how true that was."

"But we can do something good still," Blake argued. "You can run this company for the better, and the New Faunus Rights group can change things for-."

"We changed more in one year then the New Faunus Rights group has in it's lifetime," Weiss countered simply. "Hell, the group in general was your idea. So tell me Blake, how do you think that this'll play out?" Blake went silent, knowing full and well that Weiss had spoken nothing but the truth, and she knew it.

"What do we do?" Blake asked. Weiss took a deep breath in, and was about to speak.

The door opened up just as her mouth did, and Lyria entered the room.

"Blake, Weiss," Lyria greeted. "I have news for you. But I'd prefer if I was able to deliver it in one go. Would you mind waking up the Slumber Sisters?"

"RUBY! YANG!" Blake yelled out. "WAKE UP!" Blake's bellows would have been enough to wake up anyone within a five mile radius, yet Ruby and Yang still slumbered. "Weiss, cool 'em." Weiss held up her hands, and slowly let her aura slowly seep out of her body. Her body temperature cooled down, and she slowly placed a hand on Yang's shoulder. Yang instantly shot to her feet, and glared at Weiss.

"ARE YOU FUCKING INSANE?!" Yang yelled out.

"Are you still sleeping?" Weiss asked calmly. Yang paused, and shook her head. "Good. Now, let me get Ruby out of bed and Lyra will deliver news."

"News?" Yang asked, suddenly interested. "Let me get my sister up then. I so rarely get this pleasure." Yang strolled over to Ruby's bed, and instantly just shoved Ruby off. Ruby hit the ground, and instantly sprung to her feet.

"I hate you sometimes," Ruby said instantly.

"Wow," Blake said. "No hesitation, just instantly up."

"We've done this before," Ruby replied easily. "So what's up? We going on a walk? Can we go on a walk?"

"Only if you don't take shits on the lawn," Yang replied swiftly. Ruby realized how she had sounded, and blushed slightly. She instantly bounced back, and looked quizzically at Weiss.

"So what are we doing?" Ruby asked.

"News," Lyria said from the front door. Ruby swung her gaze over to the Faunus, and waited patiently. "There was an assassination last night. A bullet went into a window and struck down hunter, Zane Fullblood. The M.O was the same as the shooting over here, so-."

"The similarities run a little deeper then that," Ruby said instantly. "Do you guys remember Zane?"

"We met this guy?" Yang asked.

"I guess," Blake added in.

"When?" Weiss asked simply.

"When Weiss killed Markus, he was the hunter that aided us," Ruby said. "He disarmed Markus before being pushed away just as Weiss reached him. The M.O runs to the point where he was involved in killing off Torchwick and Cinder's group, and putting her away ultimately."

"That's right," Blake said. "Damn, it's been so long."

"Indeed it has," Weiss said. "But that means this is a task for revenge." Weiss turned to Lyria, and took in a deep breath. "Inform every key piece involved in the arrest and killings of Markus, Cleo, and Cinder that they are in danger." Lyra nodded, and pulled out her scroll.

"Looks like we're a bit late," she said instantly. "Sarah Flak is also dead."

"What?" Yang asked, instantly recognizing that name.

"Reported dead four minutes ago," Yang said. "Looks like Distrio is moving quickly."

"As is his M.O," Yang said, now understanding things a bit more. "We have 12 hours to notify the others. If we don't hit that window, someone will certainly be dead. That's not to say that someone else won't turn up dead before that, but it won't take any longer then 12 hours."

"How do you know all of this?" Lyria asked.

"Listen, you date the right psychopaths for a few days and you'll get to know things," Yang joked. "But seriously, I have a lot of contacts within the criminal underground. I walk over, flirt a little, kick the shit out of some people, and they come to know me."

"Interesting..." Lyria said slowly. "Remind me to never hang out with you."

"I'm a good time," Yang replied slyly.

"And we both are sworn to uphold the law," Lyria replied. "And I think that I'd rather avoid getting drunk enough to do something dumb."

"Sour puss," Yang called out.

"If you two are quite done!" Weiss said angrily. "Lyria, round up Tauran and Sun." Weiss turned to the rest of her former team. "You three are dismissed for the day. You may do as you please until night time, then I shall call for you again."

"Anything?" Ruby asked sweetly.

"So long as you do not deface a contract or break any priceless objects," Weiss replied. "Why?" Ruby jumped back into her bed, and closed her eyes. Within a few moments, the girl was asleep. "That's why." Weiss mumbled.

"Well then," Yang said. "I guess it's just you and me Blakey." Blake sighed, and left the room. Yang followed along shortly, and Weiss just looked over at Lyria.

"Ahem," she said impatiently.

"Oh, right," Lyria said. She ran off to grab the other Faunus', leaving Weiss alone with her thoughts. Though it was not an unfamiliar spot for the heiress to be in. She was often alone with her thoughts, but this was the first time she would do so with the prospect of friends.

**End: Questions, comments, follows, favorites, and feedback is always appreciated.**


	11. Contract Complete

Broken Apart Ch. 11: Contract Complete

**Thank you to everyone for getting me over 70 followers! I feel like that's a lot for this kind of a story. I would also like to thank GetsugaCero for finally getting me to read the future AU by Funblade. Glad I didn't read that before hand... So let's get going.**

Distrio patiently waited in a tree. His second contract had ended quickly enough, but now he knew that they would step up security. His targets would be surrounded and carefully watched over for the perimeter. So he had to take a different approach. They would look far away, but not up.

Distrio carefully pulled out his two daggers, and patiently waited. The target finally strolled into view, and Distrio smiled. He waited for him to get right underneath him, and then he jumped down. He expertly plunged two daggers into the back of the target's spine, and heard him cry out weakly. Instantly, Distrio pulled the knives out and threw them to the side. He heard the blades enter two of the hunter's surrounding the target's throats, and then he pulled out his sniper. After confirming that there were no other immediate threats, Distrio put away his sniper. It was time to collect.

_Schnee Manor_: Outside

Weiss walked around her garden, and briefly glanced at the three people behind her. Tauran was covering her left side, Sun was at her left side, and Lyria was covering behind her. Luther and Lincoln had taken the front, since they were used to working in a pair. But the day so far had been intriguing.

Weiss' proposal to Blake hadn't gone over quite like she expected. She had thought that Blake wold kick and scream all the way to the point of admittance. But Blake had just gone right along. She confessed that her job, much like Weiss', was awful. It was nothing like she had expected, and worse off Weiss knew that she could very easily be doing so much more good if she was with the Ember Sisters.

But that raised a small challenge. While Weiss felt confident that she could leave the company and be fine, her parents might think otherwise. A lot of power had been taken away from Weiss when she had chosen to join the company. Her freedom was the main thing that she had lost, but it didn't matter to her. At least, not at the time. Weiss didn't need the ability to create her own destiny, she had assumed that everything would work out.

"This is boring," Sun complained.

"Shut up, Wukong," Tauran snapped. "We've guarded worse. At least we have flowers this time."

"Fair enough," Sun shot back.

"Guarded worse?" Weiss asked.

"Some hotshot got locked up," Lyria contributed. "We were assigned to his cell. Believe it or not, none of his punk friends came for him. So we just stared at gray walls forever."

"But nooooo," Sun said jokingly. "We can't mention how drab and dull our jobs are in front of Weiss. She's a former member of RWBY."

"I already know," Weiss said calmly. "But mentioning it to Ruby and Yang would be bad. I'm not entirely sure if one month has really changed Blake enough to save you from her wrath if Ruby and Yang were to find out."

"Bah, I can take her," Sun said.

"As could I," Tauran replied. Weiss stopped, and flashed a glare at them.

"Then consider it Yang, Ruby, and my own wrath that you need to fear," she added in. That got them to be quiet, and Weiss smiled. She was well in control of her situation, something that Weiss found herself able to do often. Unfortunately, the same could not be said about her life. Her life seemed to be in someone else's control at all times.

_Within the Home: Guest Room_

Yang and Blake walked into one of the many unoccupied guest rooms, and smiled at the size. It was always hard to remember that Weiss had all of her rooms built to be one size, massive.

"Look at all the space," Yang said happily. "Oh, and the beds. They're so nice and comfy." Yang jumped into one of the beds, and took off her boots. "Do these come in travel size?" Yang asked.

"I don't know," Blake said. "But I don't think so." Yang let out a sigh, but snuggled into the bed a little bit more.

"I miss this," Yang said. "Having an actual bed to stay in. Even if it was just the really shitty Beacon beds, it was still a bed. Not some kind of a sleeping matt. Do you get beds?"

"Yup," Blake said. "But they're shitty ones. Just like at Beacon." Blake sat down on the unoccupied bed, and slowly felt the sheets. "Nothing like this."

"But the shitty beds hold so many memories," Yang said dreamily. "Back at Beacon, everything was great. We spoke with friends, stayed in one place, and most importantly we were a team. I miss those days." Blake was just silent, but Yang had no problems filling in the silence. "I know that you and Weiss both have important jobs to do now, but that doesn't mean that I can't want to relive the glory days."

"Stop talking," Blake said suddenly.

"Huh?" Yang asked.

"I'm requesting that you stop talking, and allow me to jump in." Yang nodded, and just waited. "I hate my job."

"Wha-?"

"Stop talking!" Yang went silent again. "Now, the New Faunus Rights group is a good cause, but we make almost no difference. I would love to believe that we are making an impact, but RWBY helped the Faunus more then NFR does. So Yang, does your offer still stand?" Yang dead froze. Things had taken a rather unexpected turn in her favor. Suddenly, Blake was asking to join up with the Ember Sisters. Yang could just grin, and run over to hug the Faunus.

"Of course it does kitty cat," Yang said happily. "It always will."

"Good," Blake said. "I sent off my two weeks notice while you were admiring over the bed. If you had said no, I was going to suddenly be unemployed." Yang smiled, but Blake felt as though it was important to continue. "You do understand why I'm doing this, right?"

"Cause you miss me?" Yang tried.

"Because of safety," Blake continued. "My job is boring, but eventually we'll pick up. It was easier to do good while under a recognizable name. But if we separate, Distrio, if that is the shooter, will continue to pick us off. Staying together is the safest thing that we can do."

"So...?" Yang started.

"So this is temporary," Blake said. "Once Torchwick and Cinder are put away, then I'll be right back to the New Faunus Rights." Yang just went silent, and sat back in her bed.

"Glad to know that we mean so much to you," Yang said harshly

"Pardon?" Blake asked.

"Do you remember what happened to you after you left the White Fang?" Yang asked. "You came to Beacon and tried to _hide _what you are. We found out, and you ran away. You ran because you feared that we'd hate you. And you know what? We didn't. We accepted you and comforted you for years. You came to accept who you were, hell you even helped end the White Fang as a proud Faunus. Then you left to try and bolster the Faunus Rights movement. But you know what? I understood that you felt like you could do more. I felt as though that even though we had already done so much for that cause as a team, you had every right to want to do more. But now here you are, telling me that it's the name recognition that matters and that even though _we _can do more, _you _want to go off and be in some kind of a group until this whole thing blows over. So thanks Blake, I'm glad I know where I stand."

"Yang," Blake said. "You have to understand that-."

"That your fucking pride trumps your team?" Yang asked harshly. "Yeah, I do understand. See you later Blake." Yang stood up, and left the room. She angrily slammed the door behind her, and Blake just watched her go. There was nothing that she could say that would affect Yang at that moment. Part of that was because it was all true.

_Hidden Complex_

Distrio walked into his room, and sat down calmly. He pulled out his final contract, and burned it. His pay had already been restored, so there was no sense in leaving it lying around. He calmly pulled out his daggers and a cleaning kit, and started to wipe off his daggers. Before he got very far, the door opened up. He took a glance up, and saw that it was him employers.

"Torchwick, Cinder," Distrio greeted.

"Hello Mr. Columbi," Cinder greeted. "It is good to see that you're wiping off blood from your daggers. I can tell that you have completed your contracts, and so your pay has been restored."

"And your life preserved," Torchwick said. "But now we have other tasks for you." Distrio raised his eyebrow, and the two criminals smiled.

"What's your stance on Faunus Rights?" Cinder asked calmly.

"Who the fuck cares?" Distrio asked.

"Good boy. So if you were to take a vacation down to a group of Faunus, along with some of our other employees, do you think that you could handle things?" Distrio smiled, wiped off the last piece of blood from his dagger.

"I think that I could manage," he said evenly.

**End: Sorry for the length, setup or filler or whatever you wanna call it, but I needed to do this. Questions, comments, follows, favorites, and feedback is appreciated.**


	12. Boiling

Broken Apart Ch. 11: Boiling

Ruby opened up her eyes, and snapped awake. She looked over at the clock, and saw that she had only slept for two more hours. Ruby let out a small sigh of relief, and sat up. She picked up her scythe, and sprung it out. She carefully looked over the mechanics, and pulled out her cleaning kit. A morning ritual of hers had always been to care for Crescent Rose, and the ritual had only become more elaborate after RWBY broke apart. Now there were fewer things to distract her throughout the day.

But right now, Ruby was by herself. Weiss was off doing who knows what with Tauran, Lyria, and Sun, Blake and Yang were elsewhere, and Ruby was left by herself. But Ruby couldn't deny one fact, she was having fun.

Even though Ruby didn't have faith {despite what Weiss had told her} that either Weiss or Blake would come back to team RWBY, she still enjoyed the time that she was spending with them. Her and Yang would have been the thing that she would have preferred six years ago, but now it was different. Now Ruby was more mature, more confident, had more friends, even taller {she managed to sneak past Weiss in that category}, and Ruby missed them.

Sure she had Yang still, but it wasn't the same as before. Ruby loved Blake and Weiss like sisters, adopted family of sorts. Six years of forced bonding brought out the best and worst in people, and they had always stuck together. Despite what Ruby knew about Blake and Weiss, she wanted to believe that they were going to stay with her and Yang. For a moment, she thought they would.

But they moved on, just like Ruby feared. She became the leader of a duo and not a team. But it was time to move on in Weiss and Blake's mind, and some unfortunate circumstances brought them closer together for now. Ruby would cherish that time, but she wasn't going to get overly involved. It would hurt less after they left this way.

Ruby finished up maintenance, and then closed her weapon. _Maybe some research, _Ruby thought. _I can try and find out what Torchwick's been up to. Or I can go ahead and try and find Blake and Yang. Or maybe I can research alone. I feel as though I may be able to get more done that way. _Ruby didn't even get a chance to decide. She heard her scroll go off, and picked it up.

_Alex Fraturnai is dead, knife this time. Confirmed blades that Distrio Columbi uses._

Ruby set down her scroll and took a deep breath in. Alex Fraturnai was a police officer that had the unfortunate {or fortunate depending on how you viewed it} luck of being the one officer to tackle Cinder while she was occupied with RWBY. He didn't last long, and he suffered major burns, but it gave RWBY the chance to take her down. He was really the reason that Cinder had lived through that day. Now he had paid the price, leaving one major piece of each killing and arrest gone. All that was going through Ruby's mind was one thing. _We're next._

Ruby shook the thoughts from her mind, and started to type out a message on her scroll to everyone their. As soon as she hit send, the door was thrown open angrily. Yang came storming into the room, and looked over at Ruby.

"Hey Yang," Ruby said. "What seems to be-?"

"Move," Yang said, her eyes showing a dangerous shade of red. Ruby got out of the bed, and stepped aside. Yang activated her semblance, and pounded on Weiss' bed. It caught flames, but that didn't deter Yang. She kept hitting it, and started to yell out angrily. After she had finished, Yang stepped away from the bed, and glared at Ruby. "They need a new bed in here," Yang growled.

"I-I-I'll go tell them," Ruby said. She ran off, and fetched a servant. She briefly explained the circumstances, and was assured that they'd move a bed in. Except that Ruby and Yang would have to leave. They picked an empty guest room {Yang was very insistent on one over the other} and sat down on the beds.

"So uh," Ruby said slowly. "What was that about?"

"Blake," Yang replied.

"Do you wanna talk a little bit more?" Ruby asked.

"Yeah," Yang replied. "I blew off steam back there, and I also blew off some steam outside. I don't think that the security guards were very pleased with how much I destroyed their walls. So I came back here, and settled for the bed. I feel better now." Ruby gestured for Yang to get on with it, and the blonde sighed.

"Blake and I spoke while you were asleep," Yang began. "And then she revealed to me that she wanted to join up with the Ember Sisters." Yang paused, but say that Ruby was only patiently waiting on Yang to finish. "Then she told me why. She said that she wanted only to be with us because it was safer. After Cinder and Torchwick were dealt with, she would leave and rejoin the New Faunus Rights."

"And?" Ruby asked. "I understand why this would upset you, but not make you this enraged."

"Blake told me that she hated her job," Yang continued. "She told me that she would give nothing more then to have RWBY together because we can make a difference. Then she told me that she wanted to leave, join, and leave us."

"And?" Ruby continued.

"I gave her a nice and long speech that can be summed up pretty easily. Blake's delusional and a bitch because that's how she was raised to be. False causes make her love, and truth makes her gag. She has a life in front of her that she's determined to live, no matter how many choices she has laid out in front of her." Ruby nodded, and leaned back in her bed.

"I know," Ruby said simply. "Six years with Blake, and I learned that she never had a goal that wasn't influenced by pride." Yang stopped for a moment, surprised that Ruby sounded so mature. It was easy to forget sometimes that Ruby was no longer that sweet girl that Yang had grown to protect those six years ago, but she was a mature leader now. Rarely did Ruby choose to display it, but it was there all the same.

"It's frustrating," Yang continued. "Blake listed all of the reasons that she should stay with us, and then proceeded to list bullshit why she shouldn't."

"Blake is blind and Weiss lacks control of her situation," Ruby said slowly. "But both girls fell ill with pride, and now they've been taken away from us."

"Dammit Ruby, I'm supposed to be the one doing this," Yang grumbled.

"I've decided to give you a break after six years," Ruby said teasingly. "Plus, I've grown up a fair amount. I'm taller then Weiss now."

"And stronger then Blake," Yang continued. "Six years later, and it's not getting any easier to acknowledge that my baby sister is all grown up."

"Six years didn't do you good there," Ruby agreed. "And it won't do you good now. Blake's not coming back, and Weiss' father won't let her come back. We're here for our job, and it involves protecting Weiss." Yang sighed, and looked over at Ruby.

"I'll be damned if I let them walk that easily," Yang grinned.

"As I would hope you would," Ruby replied. "But we need to prepare for the worst." Yang just groaned, and leaned back in her bed.

_Distrio_

The sniper carefully wiped off his rifle, and ate one of the pieces of food he had brought with him. It was a simple dried meat, for he needed nothing more then that. He had a party of 10 men along with him. BB was one of them, and there were some others. All of them were highly regarded in combat situations. He had no desire to simply let them go in against the group he was looking at.

There were a lot of people, including some highly regarded fighters of their own. Those Distrio had marked down their exact descriptions. He had already picked them out, and he had picked out all of those who were isolated.

_What's your stance on Faunus Rights? _Cinder had asked. What a warped sense of humor she had. His task was more then just killing those who supported Faunus Rights. There were a fair amount of them, more then just the 11 of them could handle. That meant that Distrio had to deal with a good amount before things got too out of hand.

"Are you gonna shoot?" BB asked him quietly.

"Perhaps if you were as cautious as I am, you wouldn't have been caught," Distrio hissed. BB backed away, and Distrio looked back down his sights. He slowly found all of the isolated targets, and fired off one round at a time. After all of the targets dropped, Distrio looked back at everyone else.

"Now I'll start shooting liberally," Distrio said. "After someone turns their head in surprise, you 10 will come in from the other direction. Are we clear?" Everyone grumbled a yes, and Distrio immediately fired off a round. He followed it up with two more rounds, and then all of the people in the camp turned their heads.

"Go," Distrio ordered. All 10 of the people with him ran at the camp, and Distrio kept up a steady stream of sniper rounds.

_Schnee Manor: Weiss_

The heiress calmly walked into her home, and sighed. The walk hadn't really done what she had hoped it would, but it did allow her time to think. Time to further recognize the situation that she was in. Her father was the only real obstacle in her way. Well, her parents as a whole. But Weiss was fully aware that her mother could care less what her fate was. Weiss could have been killed for all she cared. Her father wanted her to take over the company, and it was no secret that he wanted Weiss as far away from the huntress life as possible.

_You did what? _Her father had asked.

_I applied for Beacon, _Weiss had replied. _I got accepted, and I'm going._

That move would have gotten her killed if Weiss had siblings. But she had grown up with no siblings, and widely with no parents. Hiding an application to Beacon was easy. After Beacon, she stayed apart of the team. After two years, Weiss hungered for some form of power. She identified the company as a way to gain it, and so she returned home. She thought that after six years of minimal contact, her parents would welcome her. Instead, they left her with tutors and held her hostage.

Now Weiss was trying to get away from them, but there was no letter that could change where she goes now. Her own pride lead her to believe that she would be able to take over the company and move thrive. Instead, she was stuck taking walks with three bodyguards with her at all times. Weiss groaned, and went to walk towards her room.

She noticed that there were several servants carrying a bed into her room, and she angrily walked forward.

"What's going on?" Weiss asked.

"The second bed in your room got trashed," one of them said. "We're putting in another."

"How?" Weiss asked.

"Ask the Ember Sisters," another one added in. "They were the last ones in here."

_Fucking Yang, _Weiss thought. Her front was completely calm because Weiss was the dignitary, but she wanted to beat Yang to death.

Weiss swiftly got the location of Ruby and Yang, and walked over to their room. She opened up the door, and walked into the room.

"Yang, Ruby," Weiss said.

"Weiss, Lyria, Tauran, and Sun," Ruby replied with a smile. "What do you need?"

"What happened to my bed?" Weiss asked.

"Oh," Yang said. "Right. You see, I was mad and they kicked me out of the wall so then-."

"Stop!" Weiss said. "Mad about what?"

"Blake," Yang replied. "She was being difficult, and I was pretty pissed."

"How?" Weiss asked, suddenly more willing to believe that Blake had made Yang angry. As close as those two were, Blake's mysterious nature often left the blonde fuming.

"No reason," Ruby said, placing her hand on her sister's chest. "Well, nothing out of the ordinary."

"You're lying," Weiss replied.

"Weiss, I swear to you, I am not lying," Ruby said calmly. "Now, if you would please believe me and let my sister and I talk, that'd be really appreciated." Weiss kept up her stare, but Ruby didn't waver. Either the girl was telling the truth, or a much better liar.

"Fine," Weiss said. "I'll be in the library if you need me."

"Can you send up some cookies?" Ruby asked.

"And some vodka?" Yang added in. "A girl has her priorities."

"You two are the death of me," Weiss grumbled. "Fine."

"Thank you," both of the sisters side. The door closed behind Weiss, and Yang raised her eyebrow at Ruby.

"If we tell Weiss, who knows what she'll do?" Ruby asked. "I'm not going to take that risk. Not right now, anyways."

**End: Questions, comments, follows, favorites, and feedback is appreciated.**


	13. Close to Home

Broken Apart Ch. 13: Close to Home

Distrio walked around the scene. Time flies when you're having fun, and the money wasn't the only thing keeping him in the business. His love of shooting and the thrill of the kill kept him shooting past the point where most people would stop. They might settle for Grimm with the occasional outlaw, but if you give Distrio a contract and time, he will kill without a question. Criminal, hunter, politician, your neighbor he really didn't care.

"Sir," someone said. Distrio brought his gaze up to see BB waiting on him. "The place is clear. Anyone who was here's dead."

"Full report," Distrio requested.

"We lost three," BB continued. "Silvio, Elliot, and James are all gone."

"Acceptable loses," Distrio said. "Especially given what we've accomplished. The police will most likely be here within the hour." He slung his sniper over his shoulder, and grinned cruelly. "And we'd rather not be here when they are. A shootout is not something we want."

_Schnee Manor: Guest Room_

Blake calmly took a sip of tea that one of the many servants had brought her, and continued to stare out the window. Blake had done nothing but sit and think about what had happened. She had heard what Yang had said, but she saw nothing wrong with it.

There were nothing but positives to Blake's job, as far as she could see. To start with the most unimportant thing, money. It paid well. Then there was the fact that Blake was fighting for what she believed in. Sure it wasn't going along as smoothly as RWBY had, but it was an important job. Right?

Blake sighed, and set her tea aside. She wasn't sure anymore if her thoughts were what she actually thought, or just lies that she fed herself to keep her mind away from the truth.

Blake heard a knock at her door, and looked up.

"Come in," Blake said. The door opened up, and one of the servants had a panicked look on his face.

"Terribly sorry to disturb you," he said. "But not too long ago the police were called to a scene. They wanted to inform you of it, along with everyone else here."

"Distrio, I get it," Blake said.

"Well, Ms. Belladonna, it's more personal then that."

_Downstairs_

Blake walked into the room, and noticed that the center table was surrounded by everyone. Weiss, Tauran, Sun, Lyria, Ruby and Yang all stood around the table, and Ruby was twirling around her fingers nervously. Yang and her exchanged worried looks, and the looks grew worse when they saw Blake walking over to them.

"What's this about?" Blake asked. "He wouldn't give me anything apart from that this is personal."

"You might want to join up with your partner for this," Yang suggested. Blake unconsciously drifted towards Yang, but changed her course before anyone could notice. Blake wedged herself in between Sun and Lyria, and took a deep breath in.

"Now do we get to know?" Blake asked.

"There was an attack earlier," Ruby started. "Eleven attackers took on an entire camp. They only lost three people, and we've confirmed the identities of the attackers. Silvio and Elliot Auditorie, and James Lion were all killed while fighting. The other eight of them escaped, and due to how quietly most of them were killed. The entirety of the camp was killed, and only those who weren't there survived."

"It was bad," Yang continued. "There was a wide variety of weapons, including one matched back to Distrio. He picked off a lot of them before they even started the actual raid."

"Where?" Weiss finally asked. "Just tell us where they hit already."

"The New Faunus Rights camp," Ruby said. The tension in the room suddenly became thick enough to cut through. Blake, Sun, Lyria, and Tauran all had noticeably stunned looks on their faces. "That's where they hit. Luckily, four teams in total were out and about. Including-."

"Velvet," Lyria said instantly. "Did Velvet make it?" Ruby nodded.

"What about Gerald?" Tauran added in. Ruby shook her head. "Franklin? Xeno?" Two more shakes.

"Fitz?" Sun tried. Another shake.

"Delila?" Blake tried. Another shake. The Faunus' all sat down, and stared blankly into the difference. Almost all of their friends, dead. In the meantime, they had done nothing. They felt sadness, but another feeling soon replaced it for one.

"I could have been there," Tauran growled. "I could have stopped them."

"Only the best fighters had a sniper round in them," Ruby said gently. "Distrio would have shot you before-."

"Not if I got there first," Tauran growled.

"I understand your anger," Yang started. "I'd be pretty pissed too if I learned that had happened to the people I knew. But, you have to understand your job right now."

"What job?" Lyria asked, anger now entering her as well. "Protecting her?"

"This is a vendetta," Blake said angrily. "They're going to try and kill all of us. They started with the simple jobs, and now they're working their way up. Silvio, Elliot, and James died. Good for them, they've weeded out the weak. We keep Weiss safe, then we'll be able to stir up a trap for them."

"Not just me," Weiss said. "You, Ruby, and Yang as well. The four of us are next on their list."

"I don't want to hear this horse shit," Tauran growled. "I'm going hunting." Blake put her arm on Tauran's shoulder, and the bull Faunus turned around to face her. He looked into Blake's eyes, prepared to say something angry to her. But then he saw into her eyes. He saw pain, anger, sadness, and fear. Above all he saw fear.

"I don't like this," Blake said. "I want to meet Torchwick and Cinder again just so that I don't make the same mistake as last time and I'll kill them. But right now, this is our best chance at this. Ruby and Yang'll call in hunters, and we'll get set up so that we can maybe bait them into this. For all of them." Tauran growled, but gave in. He stopped, and looked at Yang and Ruby.

"What now?" He asked. "Rose seems to be the one calling the shots here."

"We stay here," Ruby said. "I've already contacted George Wash and Ozpin to see if they can collectively get forces together for us. Trust me, there are a lot of people who want to see us do this right."

"I'm gonna go outside and hit some things," Tauran said.

"I'm going with him," Lyria continued.

"Where's the bar?" Sun asked.

"I'll show you, sir," one of the servants said. It wasn't the first time that they had lost someone, and everyone had their own coping mechanisms. Tauran and Lyria took out their anger on anything that they could, Sun drank, and Blake read. Though, Blake wasn't as sure this time. She had lost so many people, that it was hard to imagine that she would ever be able to read through this. Her entire camp, her life for a month, gone.

"I'm gonna go and lie down," Blake said. Without another word, she left the area. Yang, Ruby, and Weiss exchanged looks, and Yang set off after Blake.

"Hey Blake, wait up," Yang called out. Ruby watched her sister and Blake run off, and she very calmly sat down. She pulled out a scroll, and began tapping out some things.

"What're you doing?" Weiss asked.

"Planning," Ruby replied. "I know you may not remember this, but I'm good at it." Ruby went silent again, and continued to tap out her plans. She first inspected the outer view of the Schnee Manor, and then began inspecting every place that could be entered in. She zoomed in on the weakest points, and tapped out a few notes.

"At least let me help," Weiss said.

"Nope," Ruby said calmly. "Weiss, I'm 22 years old. I'm pretty sure that I know what I'm doing now, as opposed to six and a half years ago when I met you." Weiss nodded, but sat awkwardly.

"Can I please help?" Weiss tried.

"Better," Ruby said approvingly. "Now, find sniper hides on any kind of a digital map that you have on you." Weiss pulled out her scroll and started to sift through the images. "Just like old times," Ruby said happily.

"Yeah," Weiss said. "Old times." The heiress left the ending at that, but her thoughts began to run much deeper. They began to run towards how old these times would be, especially after the thoughts of an impending attack. But then her mind shifted again. An impending attack on the Schnee Manor meant that two people had to be notified of this attack. And Weiss was not looking forward to their reaction.

_Upstairs_

"Blake, slow down!" Yang called out. Blake had continued upstairs without a problem, leaving a problem for Yang. She couldn't keep up with the Faunus.

"No!" Blake called back. She opened up the door to her guest room, and slammed it shut behind her. Yang came to a stop just outside of it, and sighed.

"Blake, open up!" Yang yelled. She was greeted with silence, and Yang sighed again. "If you don't open up, I will blow the lock off of this door. One, two, three." Yang reared her fist back, but the door opened up just as she swung. Yang was able to stop her punch just before it hit Blake, and she almost fell forward from her momentum. "Okay, open up with a warning next time," Yang joked.

"I'm only doing this because I knew you were serious," Blake said in a cold tone. "Come in." Yang walked into the room, and Blake slammed it shut behind her. Yang looked over the beds, and slowly walked over to the one that had neither Ruby nor Blake's stuff on it {it was hard to keep track of since the girls had moved into three different rooms at that point}.

Blake sat down in her own, and pulled out a book. She silently began reading, leaving Yang to just sit there.

"What's it about?" Yang tried.

"It's about a conqueror," Blake said dejectedly. "Someone who took what they want, and never cared for the consequences. I read this when someone dies as a reminder of why I do the jobs I do."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Yang asked sweetly.

"Talk about what?" Blake asked. "The fact that these people that I know are all gone now? The fact that I'm just sitting on a hit list, waiting for my time to come so I may have a chance at revenge? Is that what you want me to talk about?"

"Yes," Yang said silently.

"Or would it be about the fact that you're right now?" Blake continued. "Now, my job has no point. I might as well go back to you and Ruby, start forming up the old team. Is that it?"

"Blake-," Yang said softly. "I-."

"No, Yang," Blake continued. "All my life, I have watched people die. Friends, family, adopted family, it doesn't matter. Here I am today, fighting for the cause I believe in once again, watching everybody fall around me. Well congratulations Yang, you've got me where you want me."

"Blake!" Yang finally said. "I'm going to say something, you're not going to like it but I'm going to say it anyways. Okay?" Blake nodded, and waited patiently. "I lost my father at a young age, just like you did. I saw people die around me, and this job pretty much assures me that I'll keep doing it. But then, one of the things that I can't live without just decides that she doesn't want to be around anymore, and she leaves. You left and Weiss left, and that left me on my own with Ruby. I've lost people, I've even lost people to their own choices, but I have never once lost someone just because they want to leave. That hurt me, Blake. Now here I am, watching you hurt. This hurts as well, Blake. Please, don't be strong. You don't have to this time, because you have someone who truly cares about you right here."

Blake heard the end of Yang's speech, and she stood up. Blake calmly walked over to Yang. She raised her hand to hit her, but it froze. Blake suddenly fell into Yang, and the blonde caught her. Blake just held that limp position for a while, and felt Yang's strong grasp. That comforting hug that gave Yang a motherly feel, something that comforted Blake as it had comforted Ruby, Weiss, and Blake in the past.

"I missed you," Blake finally said. "I missed all of you."

"We missed you too Blake," Yang said softly. "And I swear, we'll kill them this time. For your friends, for our friends, and for us, okay?" Blake nodded, and felt her body grow even more lax. Yang just held Blake for a while longer, and felt the other girl's emotions pour outwards and into her.

**End: Questions, comments, follows, favorites, misinterpretations of lines, and feedback is appreciated. **


	14. Arrival

Broken Apart Ch. 14: Arrival

**Thank you to everyone for getting me to 50 favorites! Really happy that this story has done so well. Let's resume though.**

Roman looked at the images that Distrio had brought him with satisfaction. The New Faunus Rights group were a pain to deal with. They had risen after the White Fang had fallen, and from the ashes of the corrupt group they had gained more power then the White Fang could ever hope to achieve. Now almost all of them were dealt with. There was still the matter with the cat Faunus formerly from RWBY, and her friends had all survived. Not to mention about a dozen others who were away on mission. But if they were really an issue, Distrio would already have been dispatched to deal with things.

Perhaps the best news was that his force had suffered minimal loss. Only three? Three was more then acceptable. He had kept the major pieces, and that was all that really mattered.

"Two steps forward, one step back," Roman said happily.

"But that's not good enough, Roman," a voice said from behind him. Roman leaned his head back slightly, and noticed his female compatriot just behind him.

"But when that one step back weeds out three of our weaker fighters, I think that's more then acceptable," Roman responded.

"Fair enough," Cinder replied as she easily circled around to where Roman's front. "But, when you've been given the gift that I have, you'd know that acceptable isn't acceptable anymore."

"Gift?" Roman asked.

"Prison," Cinder replied happily. "I was imprisoned for so long, and it gave me time to think. One by one I watched people in my cellblock be taken away to be executed. Every time I knew I was coming up sooner. 'Only 40 to go,' I would tell myself. 'Now only 15, 10,' so on and so forth until you freed me. That was when I realized that they all did something wrong. An error costs you your life in our game, Roman." Cinder turned around and started to walk away.

"I intend to play for keeps this time," Cinder yelled out. "I don't intend to bullshit anything. Tell Distrio to watch over the Schnee's palace, or whatever it's called. I want to know what we're up against."

"Done," Roman muttered. Something about Cinder had definitely changed. Her whole attitude had become more aggressive, and her style had become more aimed towards death. At first, it was playing to conquer. But now, she wasn't just playing for keeps, she was playing for blood. If Cinder wanted to play for blood, then Roman had to do so as well. Not that he minded of course.

_Schnee Manor_

Ruby set aside her scroll, and felt herself start to doze off. Her and Weiss had been at it for hours, trying to give the proper division of labor for when everyone would arrive. Ruby was completely satisfied with herself and her plans. While this satisfaction did nothing to stop her fears, Ruby at least could rest a little easier knowing that there was nothing that she could do to fill out the needs any better.

Before she could sleep, and hand rested on top of her forehead. At first it was comforting and warm, but then it quickly turned cold. Ruby shot awake, and looked over to see Weiss smiling smugly.

"Better have a good reason for this one, princess," Ruby whined. "I was gonna nap!"

"The hunters are here," Weiss said calmly. "I simply thought that our leader would like to be informed of this."

"This is your house," Ruby grumbled.

"But, you are the leader of the Ember Sisters, no? And I think we all know who's in charge here." Ruby just grabbed her scroll and mumbled all the way over to the front door.

She opened it up, and saw a familiar face waiting on her.

"The Red Reaper," George Wash said happily.

"Wash," Ruby replied. "You have no idea how glad I am to see you right now."

"Likewise," Wash said. Ruby stepped aside, and gestured for him to walk in. The hunter leader nodded, and stepped inside.

Ruby yelled out for everyone to head downstairs, and looked at the large group that had come with Wash. There was at least 50 hunters and huntresses outside, making Ruby very excited. She had even more then what she had originally hoped for. All of them were setting some things up before entering into the house.

After a few moments, everyone was inside and the group staying at the Schnee's came out to greet them. Tauran, Lyria, and Blake's eyes were red from crying while Sun's eyes were hazy from alcohol.

"Alright," Ruby muttered. "Guys, this is George Wash. He is a hunter leader who is very good at their job. Wash, these are my friends."

"The Frozen Fencer, Attentive Assassin, and Burning Brute," Wash said instantly. "Along with Tauran Brownfur, Lyria Spots, and Sun Wukong. Quite the all star cast you have here, Ruby."

"All star huh?" Sun asked drunkenly. "I should be flattered." He hiccuped, and Wash raised his eyebrow questioningly.

"He drank away the knowledge that the NFR died," Ruby explained quietly. Wash nodded, and then waited on the next word. "Oh, right. Weiss, can you show them to where they'll be staying?"

"Why me?" Weiss asked.

"Because I don't know where it'd be..." Ruby said softly. Weiss groaned, and waved her hand at the hunters.

"Follow me," Weiss said. "We have plenty of rooms for all of you." Wash watched as his hunters left the area, and he just walked over to the couch. He put down his bag next to it, and jumped into it. Ruby walked over to him, and looked over his features carefully.

"Why take the couch?" Ruby asked. "There are plenty of beds."

"I'm an old hunter," Wash said. "Sleeping in a bed would feel wrong." He continued to adjust, but noticed that Ruby was still staring at him. He let out a heavy sigh, and looked over at her.

"Do you know how long I've been in the field?" He asked. Ruby shook her head. "Over forty years post-Beacon. That's a very long time, Ruby. That's one of the longest. When you are in our field for this long, your body wears down. It becomes more about technique then anything else, thus my choice of weaponry coming into play."

"There are things that come into play while out in the field that translate into what you do on a daily basis," he continued. "I sleep 3/4's of the night because I'm always convinced that I'll wake up. I check behind me in random intervals because I'm always making sure I have no tails. I also sleep on the couch, because the last time I slept in a bed I never got any sleep. Ruby, I hope that you live long enough to see my age and that you are doing what you love then. I don't know if it'll be a huntress, but I certainly hope you make it this far. If you are still a huntress, this'll make sense." Wash adjusted himself a little bit more, and Ruby just left him be.

What did she want to do? All she had ever imagined was finishing out her life as a huntress, but one thing was clear. Weiss and Blake had chosen different paths, and while they were miserable did they have the right idea? Should Ruby live out the later half of her life as another profession?

She shook the thoughts from her mind, and sighed. She had more important things to focus on at that moment. One of them was finding a way to make sure that her, Yang, and everyone else lived long enough to make that decision.

Ruby sent off the troop assignments to everyone there, and picked up Crescent Rose. She strapped it to her back, and walked outside.

She wasn't alone for long. She felt a presence sit next to her, and looked over to see a familiar Faunus.

"Hey Blake," Ruby said casually.

"Hey Ruby," Blake replied. She was quiet for a moment, but then spoke up again. "Everyone's here."

"Yup," Ruby replied happily. "I have so much more to work with now. Why'd you come here?" Blake sighed, and put her arm around Ruby.

"I just wanted to say that I believe in you," Blake said calmly. "If anyone can take down Torchwick and Cinder, along with everyone else, it'd be from your mind."

"Thanks Blake," Ruby said. She hooked her arm around Blake as well, but felt that something was off. "What-?"

"Ruby," Blake continued. "After all of this is done, I intend to be alive. I actually hope that all of us will be alive. But if that happens, I'll have no where else to go. A new New Faunus Rights group would be a ways away, meaning that hunters and whatnot would have to pick up the slack. I'll need something to do in the meantime. Ruby, could I join up with you and Yang?"

"Of course," Ruby said. "Our home is there if you need a place to stay. As soon as the NFR is back up, we'll let you go without a problem."

"Actually," Blake said. "Even when the NFR is back up, I could do more good with you guys." Ruby's eyes became hopeful, and Blake just sighed. "Could we make it a three woman team?"

"Absolutely!" Ruby said happily. "As long as you want to stay, you can stay. Yang and I have got your back." Blake smiled, and kept staring off into the distance. It took the entirety of the NFR getting killed off for Blake to realize a few things.

The first of which was how unprepared they were for anything. The NFR was just a camp in the middle of an open field. There were light patrols at best. Attacking that camp would have been easy to do. Blake was lucky she wasn't there the one time that it did get attacked.

The second related to the first. The NFR had done nothing. It consisted of mostly average Faunus that were unable to make it anywhere else. Blake was one of the few really good operatives that they had, and yet she was never really used. Not for the reasons of there being better agents, it was because change couldn't happen with them. Change could happen elsewhere, meaning that Blake's one logical reason for why she should stay out of her old team was flawed. There was nothing stopping her from coming back.

_Nearby_

Distrio looked down his scope carefully, and counted out the people in the rooms. Plus 54 hunters for them meant more issues for his employers. But the skill level of the 54 had yet to be determined. So that meant how easy the pickings would be were going to be difficult.

But pickings were pickings, and he could deal with it either way.

**End: Shorter chapter, deal with it. Questions, comments, follows, favorites, and feedback is appreciated.**


	15. Last Call

Broken Apart Ch. 15: Last Call

**The end is near. This is indeed, the chapter before the finale. I may do an epilogue, but I'm not really too sure about it. Thank you to everyone for getting me over 80 followers, it's time to resume.**

Distrio lifted his head from the scope of the sniper, and rolled over over. He had been watching over the place for the past day since the hunters had arrived. It was a fairly boring affair, but it was necessary. He had noticed that there was a regular patrol, and a set time frame. He could tell you if the patrol was 10 seconds early or 10 seconds late. But now, it was time to make some final information known.

"Cinder and Torchwick," he said into his headset. "One more airship coming in. Cargo is most likely whom we think it is. If so, I will signal you for that."

"Good," Cinder's voice replied. "It's time to start thinking about the ending to this."

_Schnee Manor_

Ruby stood a standstill, her scythe in hand. She had ditched her normal attire for a plain white t-shirt and a pair of shorts. It was purely for exercising purposes. Normally, Ruby would be fine with just using her normal gear for this. But just to ensure that she staid in shape, Ruby was willing to trade out her normal clothing.

The first target was sent flying through the air, and Ruby spun around her scythe. She snapped around her wrist, and felt the clay disc shatter. Her ear caught the sound of another one, and the Ruby swung around the blade into that as well.

She jumped into the air, and spiraled down towards the third clay disc. She watched as Crescent Rose cut perfectly through it, and then she fired off a round to change her course. She swung around her blade into a fourth clay disc, and then swung around the point down into the fifth and final one. Just before it made contact, a white glow cut off her attack.

"Dammit Weiss," Ruby muttered.

"A tad bit too slow," Weiss said. "Far too flashy."

"I was just trying to move Crescent Rose a little bit," Ruby said. "Besides, like you should care." Weiss took a seat on a bench, and sighed to herself.

"I do care because you're going to be defending my... home," Weiss said. Ruby just shrugged, and tucked away Crescent Rose. "Another airship has arrived," Weiss finally said. "I wanted to let you know."

"Right," Ruby agreed. "Well, I guess it's Ozpin's strings that he pulled and I'll go ahead and greet them. Thanks Weiss."

"No problem," Weiss said. "Hey, may I speak with you after you welcome whomever this may be?"

"Of course princess," Ruby said jokingly. "Though, you may want to come and help introduce. This is _your _home after all." Weiss nodded absently, and stood up.

"I guess so," Weiss agreed. She calmly stood, and walked swiftly towards the inside of the house.

Both girls reached the front door shortly, and stood at the ready. It finally started to open, and Ruby lost all prospects of formality once she saw the first face.

"JAUNE!" Ruby yelled out. She ran over, and jumped into his arms. Jaune stood awkwardly for a moment before returning the hug.

"H-h-hey Ruby," Jaune said awkwardly. "Can you get off of me?" Ruby nodded, and dropped down from Jaune. She ran over, and made her rounds hugging the other three members of team JNPR. Ruby finally backed away, and looked expectingly at Weiss.

"Welcome to my home," Weiss finally said. "I understand that you're friends, but I must keep with formalities."

"Boring as ever," Nora contributed.

"Thank you, Nora," Weiss said dryly. "Now, we do have one room still open. It only has two beds, so I suggest that-."

"Dibs," Jaune and Nora said in unison.

"-you sort out the sleeping situation," Weiss finished. "Now, I will have a servant show you the quarters, but first I would like for all of you to go over our plans first."

"Of course," Ren said. "Strategy takes precedence over everything, even food yes I know Nora." Ren turned to see the whiny look in his partner's eyes, and he just sighed.

"Ren's right," Jaune said, recognizing that as leader ultimately it was his decision. Which basically translated into Nora would whine unless he said something. "We should discuss strategy first."

"Fine," Nora agreed. Pyrrha nodded, and looked at Ruby. Ruby calmly walked over to a small table that held a 3D replica of the Schnee Manor, and gestured for JNPR to follow. The four of them did, along with Weiss.

"Okay," Ruby began. She pointed to four areas, and went into a concentration mode. "These are the sniper hides that we've picked out. We're keeping watch on them, but it won't surprise me if Distrio comes from somewhere else. There are only two sides they can attack from," Ruby pointed out the east and west side, "and so we're prepared on both ends. A permanent watch of four people is on either side. If they attack, we'll have to wait on the chance to get accurate numbers in order to accurately determine an attack plan. But 54 well trained hunters seemed to be enough, and now we have you four."

"I thought that Yang, Blake, Sun, and two other Faunus were here as well?" Ren asked.

"Bingo," Ruby agreed. "So that tips the odds a little bit more in our favor. I've seen Tauran, he looks strong. As for Lyria, I've seen her in the training grounds. Those whip rifle swords are not a joke."

"Whip rifle swords?" Jaune asked worriedly. Ruby nodded. "Any concern for her hitting us?"

"Lyria has never had an incident where she has hit a team member," Weiss reassured them. Jaune nodded, but still looked unconvinced.

"That's all our plans for now," Ruby concluded. "We'll contact you if anything comes up, okay?"

"Deal," Pyrrha said. "Come on guys, we have to decide who gets-."

"Dibs!" Nora said instantly.

"-first shower," Pyrrha finished. "You're quick on the draw."

"I feel better knowing we have them here," Ruby said. Weiss nodded. Despite how odd they seemed, team JNPR was structured how you'd want any kind of a team to be structured. You had the brute force, Nora, the silent assassin who was also a scholar, Ren, the overall fighter, Pyrrha, and finally, the natural leader, Jaune. Weiss knew they were more then capable as far as fighting went.

"So what'd you wanna talk about?" Ruby asked.

"What do you believe will happen after all of this is over?" Weiss challenged.

"I'll go back to my home with Yang and Blake, and then-," Ruby started.

"Okay, stop right there," Weiss said. "First off, Blake? She joined?" Ruby nodded. "Second off, what about speaking with my father about property damages?"

"What property damages?" Ruby asked.

"Please, we're going to take down Cinder and Torchwick and experience no property damages?" Ruby pondered the idea for a moment, but agreed with Weiss ultimately.

"Then I will stay for that," Ruby said.

"Good," Weiss said. "Because I'm going to need you're help with something."

"Hm?" Ruby asked.

"Convincing my father and mother to let me rejoin RWBY," Weiss stated. Ruby stopped in stunned silence, but then tried to form words.

"Wa-bu-it-huh?" Ruby managed.

"I want to rejoin RWBY so that I can do something with my life again," Weiss said. "I miss all of you, you were my family. My biological family is cold and cruel and they couldn't give a damn about what comes of me. So I would rather be with my adopted family. But, my biological family wouldn't allow me."

"It's your decision though," Ruby said happily.

"No, you'd be amazed," Weiss said sadly. "It really won't be. So I need you to support me, if we make it through this whole mess. Would you please Ruby, help out an old partner?" Ruby just threw her arms around Weiss, and nuzzled her head on top of Weiss'.

"Of course," Ruby said happily. "Anything for a member of the family." Weiss smiled, and hugged Ruby back, but her heart was still filled with dread.

Convincing Ruby was the easy part. Now it was up to her, Blake, Yang, even any of the other hunters who survive to convince her parents. They were not going to give in easily.

_Hidden Complex_

Torchwick calmly lit another one of his cigars, and took a single puff of it. He tipped out the ash, and added to the small pile on the floor.

"You're going to kill yourself one of these days," Cinder remarked casually.

"Not before I'm done here," Torchwick said. "When I am, then I'll let myself die."

"How poetic," Cinder remarked dryly.

"I'd be more worried about the ash build up in your lungs," Torchwick shot back. "You're more likely to die of that."

"Fire doesn't bother me," Cinder said as a snake of flames curled up her arm. "Fire is nothing more then my pet."

"Because it'd be too normal for you to want a pony like every other girl," Torchwick said.

"Pony's are boring, I prefer a little bit of excitement."

"If you two are quite done with flittering," a sudden voice flared up from the speaker in the center of the room. "I have my final report."

"Remember your place, Columbi," Torchwick said. "Give the report."

"The other team that they were friendly with, JNPR," Distrio said. "All four of them, accounted for. I tapped into the lines at Beacon, they are all that's coming."

"Stay on the line," Cinder ordered. "JNPR. Only four."

"Four is more then enough concerning those shits," Torchwick said. "They're a very good team. Plus, they have George Wash on their side. Along with the other brats that were away when we took down the NFR. Four more is an issue."

"Agreed," Cinder said. "But it would be best to attack now. Sadly, we are running out of time today. Distrio!"

"Ms. Fall?" The sniper replied.

"Prepare your ammunition," she replied. The snake spread across her both of her arms, and crawled up her face. "We're going in tomorrow."

**End: Setup, filler, whatever you may wanna call it call it that. If no one guesses what Distrio is named after by the next chapter, I will state it in the A/N. But hey, we're almost done. Questions, comments, follows, favorites, and feedback is appreciated.**


	16. Finale

Broken Apart Ch. 16: Finale

**It's all coming to an end! Do not worry though, there will be an epilogue. Final numbers for this story are, 86 followers and 56 favorites. It's been fun guys, kind of sad that it'll come to an end. No one did 100% guess Distrio's true origins, so I will simply tell you. Washington District of Colombia is correct in some ways, but not quite. Distrio's nickname is the Sniper, and D.C are his initials. The D.C Sniper was the inspiration for his name, but not much else. Enjoy the finale guys!**

Distrio twirled a round in his fingers. There wasn't a whole lot he could do other then what he was currently doing, and that was waiting. He had his orders, he knew what to do, but his orders included a start time. That start time happened to include that everyone was needed to be there. Currently, it was only him. Waiting was the easy part of the game, it was keeping on alert that was the hard part.

_Schnee Manor_

Ruby looked down at the plans in agony. She knew precisely where she would come in from if the attack was up to her, but she also knew that Cinder didn't like to work conventionally. Staring down at these ideas was always painful. How would she know how someone would want an attack done?

"Need help?" Someone asked. Ruby turned around, and saw Jaune standing there.

"Yes," Ruby said. "I need to know what you would do here." Jaune walked over to her, and looked down at the plans.

"Hm," he said thoughtfully. "Well, if it were me I'd say the easy end. It looks like there's more of a chance for the offenders there then the west side since that's so close to the house." Ruby nodded in agreement, but she still looked troubled. "What's wrong?"

"I don't want to get this wrong," Ruby said. "I hate losing people, but I know we always do."

"On a scale this large, no one's ever safe," Jaune agreed. "Hardest part about this is accepting that this is how things are." Ruby nodded in agreement, and just sat down.

"Weiss and Blake want to rejoin," she finally said. "They want to become RWBY again. If I can convince Weiss' father to let her then everything is good to go. Except that both of them would have to live."

"So would you and Yang," Jaune pointed out. Ruby let out an even deeper sigh, and just held her hands over her face.

"I don't know what to do," Ruby sighed.

"Hey, you'll figure something out," Jaune said encouragingly. "You always do." Ruby nodded, and put her scroll away. Everyone had a copy of the plans, there was nothing more she could do.

_Outside_

Distrio finally stopped twirling his bullet, and slowly drew one of his daggers. He turned around, and raised up throat level. He saw the calm and careful face of BB behind him, causing him to sigh.

"Calm down, sniper," BB grumbled.

"I'm in a hostile zone," Distrio growled back. "Count yourself lucky that I decided to make sure it was someone I didn't know before I cut your throat." BB nodded, but pointed back at the trees.

"Everyone's here," he said. "We have our first wave ready to go. Most of them will die, don't concern yourself with them. The second wave has some of our heavier hitters, and the final wave will contain our employers along with myself. Shoot until someone shoots at you." Distrio nodded, and chambered the round. He got down into a prone position, and slowly lined up his sights. He carefully raised his semblance around him, and took aim at two of the hunters.

"Goodbye," he said calmly. He pulled the trigger, and the first bullet went clean through one of their chests. "Come on, trigger the alarm," Distrio muttered in frustration. The second hunter remained stationary for a few moments, but then he finally started shouting. "You would be dead several times over if that were the objective," Distrio muttered. He fired off his second round, and watched the other one drop. He then shifted his sights towards where his allies were hidden, and just waited.

_Schnee Manor_

It didn't take long for Ruby to get to her feet once she heard the yelling. Jaune was up as well, and everyone was trying to rush to get ready. Before they could, the yelling was cut off abruptly. Blake, Sun, Tauran, and Lyria's ears all twitched as they heard the sound of the body dropping. Wash was the first to get ready, and he calmly raised up his sword.

"I believe it is time to pay a visit to our friends," Wash said, his voice showing the same level of calm that his body was. He walked towards the door, and the rest of the hunters followed along. Ruby waited to make sure that everyone else was ready, and then she rushed out.

Upon opening the door, Ruby could only see one fighting. They had come from the east end, just as Ruby had thought. Everyone was prepared, but there were a lot of people. Everything from hired goons to former members of the White Fang, and the hunters were all holding their own.

"Let's go," Ruby called back to everyone who was still inside. Yang, Weiss, Blake, JNPR, Sun, Tauran, and Lyria all came out behind her, and immediately ran into the fray.

It took them almost no time at all to take down 10 enemies, then 20, then 30, and so on and so forth until they finally cut through almost all of them. Everyone that was left was running away, making the fight incredibly easy.

Ruby let Crescent Rose fall to her side, but she kept a close eye on everything. Something was wrong. They hadn't seen Distrio, Cinder, Torchwick, anyone. While Ruby hadn't expected to see Distrio, but the other two were unusual to her. They would want to have their heavy hitters out there on the field.

"Second wave," Ruby muttered. "Tauran!" Tauran turned around, and nodded at Ruby. "You have the loudest voice, tell everyone a second wave's incoming. This time, more of the heavy hitters are coming out." Tauran nodded, and cleared his throat.

"SECOND WAVE IS COMING!" He yelled out. "HEAVY HITTERS INBOUND!" Tauran clapped his hands together, and all of the hunters held their formation.

The next group came in, and Ruby reacted instantly. She fired off a round into the chest of one of the criminals and used the momentum to bring around the blade into the chest of another. She fired off a round to get rid of his corpse, and turned around just in time to see another guard crumple to the ground. She saw Weiss holding her sword in one hand, and her other hand glowed to raise glyphs as needed. Ruby nodded in appreciation, but had to immediately shift around her scythe blade.

Blake was silently carving through anyone and everyone. She would shadow out of the way of one attack to bring her sword into the body of a second attacker, while never having to fire off a round. She switched around her grip, and shifted her sword into it's clever form. She swung around the blade and took out the knees of one attacker, and turned to face another. Just as she was able to, he slumped over. Blake smiled at Yang, who had bloody knuckles and a wild look.

"Thanks," Blake said. Yang just nodded, and brought her fist into the neck of another attacker.

Sun twirled around his gun chucks a few more times, and unloaded several rounds into every attacker that he could see. He was making quick work of anyone and everyone was trying to keep a fair distance from him.

Someone backed up, and felt their body hit something solid. They looked up just in time to see Tauran's fist enter his skull. Tauran picked up his corpse, and threw it at another group of attackers. All of them stumbled back from the hit, and Lyria flipped around her whip swords into their necks. They fell to the side, and she fired off two rounds to bring the blades into the necks of two more attackers.

_Nearby Tree_

Distrio sat in his branch, and fired off another round. Killing hunters was always tricky. Their aura was always raised, thus meaning it would sometimes take several shots. It added in another layer of patience to his craft, but Distrio was nothing but patient. He heard his ear piece ring slightly, and he held his hand up to it.

"We're coming in now," Cinder's voice came in. "I want you to pick off as many as you can to make way for us."

"I'm already doing that," he hissed. Before he could get her response, bullets started to fly by him. He had to duck out of the way of some of them, but one of them hit the branch that he had taken cover on. It snapped, and he jumped off of it just in time. He quickly raised up his sniper, and fired off rounds at his attackers. While he could no longer safely snipe, he was still far more dangerous with a gun.

He fired off one round at the chest of one hunter, and his aura saved him. Distrio raised his grip on the gun, and swung it around like a baseball bat. He caught the hunter in the neck, causing him to stumble back. Distrio fired off another sniper round, and saw his target drop. He grinned in satisfaction, but he could already feel another presence behind him. He turned to see a boy with blonde hair and a pair of nunchucks at his side.

"Sun Wukong," he said smugly. "What brings you here?" Sun just snapped his nunchucks together to form a bo staff, and he let it drop to his side. "All business today, isn't that a bit unusual?" Sun swung his staff forward, and Distrio blocked it with his rifle. Distrio backed up, and fired off two shots. Sun blocked both of them, and switched around his staff into a pair of nunchucks.

He fired off several rounds at Distrio, who just backed away from all of them. He tried to block them with his rifle, but felt wildly unsuccessful in doing so. He tossed the rifle at Sun, who paused for a moment in surprise. Distrio drew both of his daggers, and threw one of them into Sun's leg. Sun was so caught off guard, it successfully entered in. Distrio ran forward, and pulled the knife out while kicking Sun to the ground. He stood over him with a dagger in his hand and a grin on his face, and he started to slowly lower it towards him.

Before the knife got there, it was yanked from Distrio's hands. He called out briefly in surprise, but turned to see a lynx Faunus. He instantly identified her as Lyria, and he went for his sniper. Just as he picked it up, she batted it out of his hands. He called out sharply in pain, and rolled to the side. Lyria cautiously walked over him, and as soon as she was directly over him, Distrio rolled over and plunged his knife into the back of her knee. She called out sharply, and Distrio pushed her off of him. He picked up his sniper, but felt it get knocked out of his hands.

He had almost no time to look up before being hoisted into the air. He looked down, and saw the face of Tauran Brownfur staring up at him.

"Beg," Tauran said angrily. Distrio stared down calmly at Tauran. "Beg or you die."

"Then I die," Distrio said calmly. Tauran angrily brought Distrio's body down onto his knee, and snapped his spine in half. Tauran tossed his body to the side, and spat at it.

_Weiss_

Weiss calmly swung around her sword, and cut down one more of the guards. They didn't have many hunters, but 54 hunters against two hundred mediocre fighters always ended in favor of the hunters. But now the occasionally convict was being thrown into the mix. The issues were becoming more and more, but Weiss could handle it. While relatively unpracticed in some ways, she was still a huntress.

She knocked aside another one of the lower level goons, and looked up. She noticed Torchwick firing off his weapon at the crowd, and her gaze narrowed. Weiss ran forward, and put a glyph under herself. Weiss raised herself up, and dove over towards Torchwick. He noticed her, and fired off a Dust shot straight at her. Weiss raised up a glyph to block it, and she managed to get to the ground and roll to her feet. She swung around her sword, but it was instantly met with Candy Cane.

"It's the princess," Torchwick sneered. "So glad to see that you're up and around after our shooter missed you."

"Good to see that you're still a slime," Weiss snapped back.

"And uncreative," Torchwick said boredly. He fired off a round from Candy Cane, and it forced Weiss to back away and move to her right. Torchwick took this opportunity to fire off a round at the ground, knocking Weiss back. She looked up, and silently cursed herself for underestimating Torchwick. She should have known better.

He calmly held his weapon over her, and smiled.

"There's no prince to wake you from this spell," he said calmly. Weiss closed her eyes just as he pulled the trigger, and she heard the round go off. But she never felt it.

Weiss looked up, and saw a sword holding up his weapon in the air. Weiss let her eyes trail over to who was holding the sword, and her body met the military coat of George Wash.

"No prince, that's overdone," he said calmly. "How about the old fox gets to save the day for nothing in return?" Torchwick growled, and George Wash twisted around the angle of his blade. The weapon slowly got more pushed towards the air. "Weiss, find the others and inform them of my little spat here. I'll be holding him off." Weiss nodded, not willing to question authority in this instance, and ran off to get the others.

"Who are you?" Torchwick asked.

"George Wash, old hunter wonder," Wash replied calmly. "Now it's time for one of us to learn what it's like to be on the losing end of a fight. Shall we?" Torchwick finally broke the strong hold of Wash, and he swung around his cane. Wash blocked the attack, and he stepped towards Torchwick. Torchwick was already in the middle of firing off a round. The angle was thrown off, and the round sailed harmlessly away. Wash stepped down on Torchwick's foot, just hard enough to cause him to instinctively flinch.

He immediately rebounded, and threw a punch at Wash. It threw him off for a moment, and that moment was long enough for Torchwick to fire off a round at him. Wash flew back, and hit a nearby tree with a hard thud. He started to slowly get up, and he tried to eye Torchwick. All he could see was the barrel of Candy Cane, causing him to smile.

"Over forty years out here and this is how it ends," he said softly. "Well then Torchwick, I suppose it is only fitting I die by the hands of the most recent most wanted."

"Indeed it is," Torchwick said. He pulled the trigger, and watched as the explosive hit Wash. He made no effort to move, knowing that he was a little bit too slow, and he made no effort to raise his aura, purely because he accepted his fate. He died almost instantly.

Torchwick smiled, and turned to walk away. As soon as he did, a single sword blade went through his stomach. He looked up to see a very angry looking Weiss staring him in the eyes, with her sword in his stomach.

"That's for everything," Weiss growled. She pulled her sword out of him, and went to kick his corpse over. As soon as she did, a club landed right next to her. She only just managed to dive out of the way before it would have crushed her, and she raised up her gaze. She didn't recognize him instantly, but she did notice his plate armor.

"That was my paycheck," he growled. Weiss didn't say anything, she just raised up a glyph. Immediately the brute of a man swung his club into it, and failed to break through. He tried again, and again, and Weiss felt her aura lower. She had to make the glyph full body, meaning that she couldn't sneak under any ice. She just readied her stance, and centered her sword.

She never had to fight.

Blake jumped out form a nearby tree, and landed directly on top of the man. She instantly stabbed her katana straight through the gap in his neck plates, and heard the man choke out weakly. She jumped off of him, and watched as he fell over.

"Thanks," Weiss said tiredly. Blake nodded, and looked over at Torchwick. "He killed Wash," Weiss explained. "I couldn't find you guys, so I came back. I shouldn't have left..."

"Where's Ruby and Yang?" Blake suddenly asked. Weiss' eyes widened, and she looked around.

"Cinder," both of them said in unison.

_Cinder_

Cinder had two fire snakes wrapped around her arms. She was throwing flames at everyone who dared challenge her, and she had killed a fair amount of them. She was smiling the whole time, trying to make her way to find those she wanted to pay back the most.

"HEY!" She heard someone yell out. Cinder turned, and saw two of the people she was searching for.

"It's you brats," Cinder said happily. "I was so hopeful that you would be here. Luckily you did not disappoint me." Ruby twirled around Crescent Rose, and Yang rubbed her fists together. Both of them ran forward, and Cinder just raised up her arms. She fired off two columns of flames, forcing Ruby and Yang to take cover behind the first things they could.

Cinder smiled, and started to walk towards them. She fired off a row of flames at where Ruby was hidden, forcing her to run. She turned to fire off a row at Yang, but she was greeted by a single fist flying towards her. She dove out of the way, and looked up to see Yang standing there. Cinder fired off another row of flames, but this time Yang just jumped out of the way.

She ran forward at her enemy, and swung around her fists again. Cinder ducked under the attack, and fired off a row of flames. This time, they caught Yang across the side. Yang howled out in pain, and fell to the ground. Cinder started to walk over to her, but something clicked in her mind. She tried to turn around, but turned too late.

The blade of Crescent Rose caught her in the legs, causing her to crumple to the ground. Ruby walked towards her, and chambered a round in her scythe.

"This is for all of the people you hurt," Ruby growled. "My friend's, my family, my sister, and anyone else."

"You think this has meaning?" Cinder asked. "Look at you, you don't even know how to be an adult. You kill me, you'll lose your purpose. Tell me child, is that something you really want?"

"Nope," Ruby replied. "But I'm willing to learn." Cinder's eyes flickered as her last trump card was used, and Ruby pulled the trigger. The blade of Crescent Rose cleaved her clean in half, and her body fell to the ground. Ruby instantly ran over to Yang, and looked at her.

"Yang?" Ruby asked quietly. "Yang, please tell me your okay."

"Not okay," Yang mumbled. "But I'll live. Can you just call me a medic?" Ruby nodded, and started to yell out for a medic as she turned to fight any vultures off.

_Later_

After the deaths of both Torchwick and Cinder, the battle ended almost immediately. Anyone who remained gave in, and those who fought perished. Out of the 65 that they had started with, they ended with 47. All of JNPR had survived {if only just} and many others were given a pass. Those that had died were to be honored, but there wasn't much more to do. Well, there was one thing to do. Weiss' father.

He had arrived about an hour after the battles. He had barely glanced over Weiss, and just instantly went to assessing the damage. Ruby had given Weiss a quizzical look, but she just shrugged. This was everything she had come to expect from him.

"Ruby," Weiss hissed. "Talk to him." Ruby nodded, and started to approach Mr. Schnee.

"Mr. Schnee," she called out. He turned, and briefly acknowledged her. "I'm Ruby Rose, I was in charge here."

"Yes, most likely why it's in such poor condition," he said. "I do still remember you, Ms. Rose." Ruby paused for a moment, unclear as to what to do. "Luckily I'm willing to finance everything. Weiss can return to a normal home soon enough."

"Right," Ruby muttered. "About that. You see, I was wondering if you'd allow your daughter to return to team RWBY?"

"Absolutely not," he said instantly. "She means too much to me. She stays."

"But Mr. Schnee, she is valuable and can do so much more good if she is back with RWBY," Ruby said.

"And I care why?" He asked calmly. Ruby felt the color rush to her face, and she stared him down in pure rage.

"If I may interject," someone said. Ruby turned, and saw Blake walking over to them. "Yang's getting some good care, so I thought I may stop by here."

"What do you want?" Mr. Schnee asked angrily.

"Well, I simply thought that it'd be a good thing to mention that your blessing is not technically needed to allow Weiss to rejoin team RWBY. Without it, she still can as she is beyond the age where she'd need it." Blake folded her arms, and Mr. Schnee looked baffled. "She can disobey you if she so chooses."

"That was an option this whole time?" Ruby asked in confusion. "I could just say, 'hey Weiss, don't listen to your dad?'"

"No it is not and no it will not be," Mr. Schnee snapped.

"Yes it is, and yes it will be," someone said. Ruby turned, and saw Weiss walking forward with Yang's arm around her.

"I wanted to watch this," Yang said. "Told them, fuck the treatment. This'll be way more entertaining."

"Father, I have decided to return to where my education taught me to go and resume being a huntress," Weiss said calmly.

"You do not," he growled.

"I do, and I have three honorable witnesses. This is enough here, wouldn't you say father?" Weiss asked. Mr. Schnee just looked baffled, and Weiss stepped away from him and towards the rest of RWBY. "Goodbye." Mr. Schnee remained speechless, but then he just left. He had nothing more to say nor to do. He had just done one of the dumbest things he could have done, questioned his daughter's stubbornness.

The four girls looked around at each other. They had done it. Cinder and Torchwick were gone, they were back together, nothing else was left.

"Team RWBY is back together!" Ruby said happily. "Bonsai!"

"Bonsai!" The other three echoed.

They wouldn't have it end any other way.

**End: And neither would I. I will be covering how their lives carried out in the epilogue, but this story line is indeed done for me. Final questions, comments, follows, favorites, and feedback is appreciated.**


	17. Epilogue: Pieced Together

Epilogue: Pieced Together

So the four girls and their friends carried out their days living the lives they had wanted too.

Team JNPR was always team JNPR. Jaune and Pyrrha one day got married, after many years of the two of them not asking each other, and they raised a baby boy. Nora and Ren never really changed much. The four of them became one of the best specialist teams in all of Remnant.

Lyria, Sun, and Tauran started up the most recent Faunus Rights causes. They were known simply as the Golden Claw, a name that was meant to symbolize that they were more then just small time negotiators. This cause was the first to become successful, and they wound up doing good in the world. As for the members of team RWBY, well they lead more storied lives.

Ruby became the most renowned huntress in the world. Her speed and skills rose her above all else, and any time there was a problem someone always called her. She lived for quite some time, and exceeded that mark that Wash had told her was so difficult and rare to reach.

Weiss had inherited the Schnee Dust company after a tragic accident fell upon her parents. She rose the company to become not only the most powerful company in the Dust market, but also one of the most powerful ones as far as politics go. She fought for everything and anything that she believed in, determined to never once let someone else dictate what it was that she did.

Blake went on to become the most successful Faunus hunter in remnant. She was highly regarded for her skills in silence, thus leading her to have the most assassinations out of any one hunter or huntress in Remnant.

Yang just became the most connected person in Remnant. If your name was on the black market, Yang somehow knew you. It calmed down much of the sales in the black market, thus forcing people to move to a different realm.

But depute all of their success as individuals, they always remained a team. RWBY was the name that they wore proudly when all of them were handed Huntresses' Final Marks, which were the lifetime achievement awards for hunters in Remnant. All of them died still being in team RWBY, for one reason. No matter what befell upon you, you always needed support.

No one could do it alone.


End file.
